Influencer Marketing in Regulated Industries: Alcohol, Finance and Pharma in Denmark

Short answer: three industries carry extra rules on top of ordinary ad disclosure

The general rule — that influencer content involving a commercial benefit must be marked as an ad — applies to every industry. But three industries carry their own, additional rules that go further: alcohol (an absolute ban on mentioning alcohol or energy drinks in content aimed at anyone under 18, whether the post is paid or not), finance (specific disclosure duties when an influencer recommends a concrete investment), and pharma (a total ban on advertising prescription medicine to the public — on any channel). Three different authorities enforce these rules, and they apply on top of, not instead of, the general ad-disclosure rules.

This is practical guidance from Make Influence, not legal advice. Use it to get an overview of which extra rules apply in each industry — get the specific legal assessment of your campaign from a lawyer, particularly if the campaign involves prescription medicine or investment products.

Overview: what applies on top of ordinary ad disclosure

Alcohol: a ban on content aimed at anyone under 18

Markedsføringsloven (the Danish Marketing Practices Act) § 11(2) prohibits any mention, image or reference to alcohol in a commercial practice aimed at children and young people under 18. Per Forbrugerombudsmanden's own wording, the prohibition is a general rule that applies regardless of whether the specific marketing practice concerns selling alcohol or simply uses alcohol as a device — and it explicitly covers energy drinks too, a category the authorities discourage for children and young people. What matters is not whether the post is paid advertising or organic content: the ban covers both. A violation can be punished with a fine under § 37(3) of the same act.

Forbrugerombudsmanden sharply stepped up enforcement in autumn 2024. A press release dated 9 October 2024 states that the authority reported several influencers to the police for nine violations of the Marketing Practices Act — specifically for marketing alcohol or energy drinks to children and young people under 18. The case shows the rule is enforced in practice, not only on paper, and that Forbrugerombudsmanden actively monitors influencer content in this category.

The rule reaches further than most brands assume. It isn't only a ban on directly advertising an alcohol brand — it's a ban on any mention, any image and any reference, whenever the content is aimed at an audience under 18. A creator with a predominantly young following therefore can't lawfully show a beer or a cocktail in the background of a post, regardless of whether it's the brand's own product, and regardless of whether money is involved.

Practical: how to assess whether a campaign is in the danger zone

• Check the creator's actual audience demographics — not just your product's intended target group. A creator with a large under-18 segment in their following is in the danger zone regardless of who the product is actually designed for.
• The rule covers energy drinks on the same footing as alcohol — don't overlook this category if you work with sports-drink or energy-drink brands.
• The ban applies whether alcohol is the main message or simply visible in the background of a video.
• There's no exception for "organic only" content — if the creator chooses to show the product with no payment involved, the ban still applies if the audience is under 18.

Finance: the "finfluencer" rules and investment recommendations

When a creator recommends a concrete purchase or sale of shares, cryptocurrency or another financial instrument, they fall under the EU's Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), Article 20(1), and its accompanying Delegated Regulation 2016/958 on investment recommendations. The rule applies to anyone who produces or disseminates an investment recommendation — not only licensed analysts. The requirement is that the information must be presented objectively, and that the sender's own interests or conflicts of interest in relation to the recommended instrument must be disclosed.

Finanstilsynet has enforced the rule against ordinary private individuals, not only professionals. On 16 September 2022, Finanstilsynet issued a reprimand against a well-known figure in Danish investment circles who, in May 2022, posted "signals" on several stocks based on a momentum model in the Facebook group "Dansk Investor Netværk" (53,000 members) — without disclosing the calculation behind the model. According to Økonomisk Ugebrev's coverage of the case, the person was held to the same disclosure standard as a professional analyst despite being a private investor, and a disclaimer that the post "wasn't a call to trade" didn't change the fact that the investment-recommendation rules applied. In April 2026, Finanstilsynet issued a comparable reprimand against a professional analyst for failing to disclose their own shareholding in an internal memo that in substance amounted to an investment recommendation — Finanstilsynet stressed that neither the format nor the "internal memo" label exempts anyone from the disclosure duty.

Finanstilsynet also published a consumer-facing warning in June 2024 urging people to be critical of finfluencers' investment tips — its central point being that a finfluencer, unlike a licensed financial adviser, is under no obligation to act in the recipient's best interest. That's a consumer warning, not a separate legal obligation on the influencer beyond MAR Article 20 — but it shows the authority is actively watching the space.

A proposal, not yet law

Finans Danmark, the trade body for the Danish financial sector, presented a seven-point proposal on 9 March 2026 aimed at protecting young people from fraud and misleading financial advice on social media — grounded in the organisation's own research finding that, in its words, "four out of ten Danish investment influencers" give poor or outright misleading advice. The proposal includes a certification scheme for professional finfluencers, tighter oversight of non-professional actors, and platform obligations to remove misleading financial content. It's important to be precise about status: this is a proposal from a trade body, not enacted legislation. Until any legislation is passed, it's MAR Article 20 and the Marketing Practices Act's general ban on misleading marketing that apply.

Pharma: prescription medicine is banned, OTC medicine is allowed with conditions

Advertising for medicines is regulated by the Danish executive order on advertising for medicines, elaborated in the Danish Medicines Agency's (Laegemiddelstyrelsen) own guidance no. 9400 of 20 April 2022. The central distinction runs between prescription-only medicine and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine: advertising prescription medicine to the general public is prohibited — it may only be marketed to healthcare professionals. OTC medicine, by contrast, may be advertised to the public, but the advertisement must be balanced, must not be misleading or exaggerate the product's properties, and must be consistent with the product information the Danish Medicines Agency has approved. According to Ugeskriftet.dk, the Danish medical journal, the internet is treated on the same footing as print media in this context — meaning an influencer post about a prescription medicine is exactly as prohibited as a printed ad, and a post about an OTC medicine is subject to precisely the same content requirements as a TV commercial.

The pharmaceutical industry is also held to its own self-regulation through ENLI (Etisk Nævn for Lægemiddelindustrien, the Ethical Committee for the Pharmaceutical Industry), which enforces the industry's own advertising code for member companies' marketing, including collaborations with healthcare professionals and patient organisations. ENLI's rules are primarily directed at the member companies themselves, not directly at the influencer — but that means a pharma company considering an influencer collaboration generally has to weigh it against both the statutory regulation and the industry's own code.

Practical consequence for a campaign

For a brand, this means in practice: if the product is a prescription medicine, a consumer-facing influencer campaign isn't an option at all — no matter how carefully the content is worded, no matter the disclaimer, and regardless of whether the creator is themselves a healthcare professional. If the product is OTC medicine, an influencer campaign can go ahead, but the content has to meet the same balance and product-information requirements as any other advertisement for the medicine — which typically means the marketing copy and claims need sign-off from the responsible company's regulatory function, not only its marketing team, before a creator posts it.

Often missed: what category is the product actually in?

The most common mistake in all three industries isn't knowingly breaking a rule — it's misclassifying the product, so the wrong rule gets applied from the start.

• Supplement vs. medicine: A dietary supplement marketed with a health claim that's actually a medicinal claim (e.g. "cures", "treats", "prevents disease") risks being assessed as a medicine by presentation or function — regardless of how the product itself is registered. That triggers the pharma rules, including the ban on advertising prescription products, if the product should genuinely be classified as one.
• Crypto and "signals" vs. registered investment products: MAR Article 20 isn't limited to shares — it covers any recommendation about a financial instrument, and Finanstilsynet's own enforcement against private individuals posting "signals" on social media shows that informal language ("this isn't advice") doesn't by itself exempt anyone from the disclosure requirement.
• Alcohol-free variants and "0.0" products: Marketing an alcohol-free beer variant falls outside the alcohol ban, but be careful if the same post also shows or mentions the regular, alcoholic version of the product — that can pull the whole post back under § 11(2).

Decision framework: what to check before running a campaign in these industries

IF the product is alcohol or an energy drink → confirm the creator's actual audience demographics are 18+, and write it into the brief as a requirement, not an assumption.

IF the creator is going to mention a concrete financial product, a stock or a cryptocurrency with a buy or sell recommendation → build disclosure of method and any conflicts of interest into the content, whether or not the creator is a professional adviser.

IF the product is a medicine → confirm first whether it's prescription-only or OTC. If prescription-only, a consumer-facing influencer campaign is off the table. If OTC, the content needs sign-off from your regulatory function, not just marketing.

IF you're unsure about the product's classification in any of the three industries → get the classification confirmed before the campaign is planned, not after it's already live.

Make Influence's perspective

In our experience, the biggest risk in these three industries isn't a brand deliberately wanting to break the rules — it's that the rules never get checked, because the campaign otherwise looks like any other influencer campaign. We recommend treating an industry check as a fixed, early step in campaign planning — on the same footing as ad disclosure and the contract's terms — rather than something that only surfaces once an authority reacts. For alcohol and finance, in practice this mostly means knowing and documenting the creator's audience demographics and the content's actual claims before the contract is signed. For pharma, our clear recommendation is that regulatory sign-off on the content is locked in before any creator gets access to the brief.

FAQ

Does the alcohol ban apply if the creator is over 18 but part of their following is under 18?

Yes. What matters is who the content actually reaches and is aimed at — not the creator's own age. A creator with a meaningful share of followers under 18 is in the danger zone, regardless of the creator's own age.

Can a Danish influencer talk about cryptocurrency or stocks at all?

Yes — general discussion and personal experience aren't themselves prohibited. What triggers MAR Article 20's disclosure requirement is when the discussion turns into a concrete recommendation to buy or sell a specific instrument — at that point, method and any conflicts of interest have to be disclosed.

Are dietary supplements covered by the pharma rules?

Only if the product is actually presented or functions as a medicine — for example, with a claim to cure or prevent a specific disease. A supplement that sticks to legitimate supplement claims isn't covered by the pharma advertising rules, but the line is crossed more easily than most brands assume.

Do these rules replace the general ad-disclosure rules?

No. They apply on top of, not instead of, the general ad-disclosure rules. A post in one of these three industries can easily breach both rulebooks at once.

Can a pharma company use influencer marketing at all?

Yes, but only for OTC medicine aimed at consumers, and only with content approved to the same standard as any other advertisement for the product. Prescription medicine is excluded from consumer-facing influencer campaigns regardless of how carefully it's worded.

Do the same rules apply to a giveaway or contest in these industries?

Yes, on top of the general giveaway rules. See how to run an influencer giveaway or contest, legally for the spam ban and the Danish prize tax — both apply on top of the industry rules covered here if the prize itself is alcohol, a financial product or medicine.

Do these rules apply on top of the environmental/greenwashing claim rules too?

Yes. See environmental and sustainability claims in influencer marketing: what Danish law requires for the separate documentation rules and the automatically-misleading claims that take effect on 27 September 2026 — an environmental claim about a product in one of these three industries has to satisfy both rulebooks at once.

Is the alcohol rule here the whole story on marketing to children and young people?

No — it's one of four rules, and the narrowest one. A broader set of Section 11 rules covers dangerous-behaviour content, profiles belonging to under-15s, and using children under 15 in content more generally, plus a separate, stricter ban on directly urging a child to buy anything at all — not just alcohol. See marketing to children and teenagers through influencers: what Danish law actually requires for the full framework, including who besides the influencer can be held liable.