The Danish Marketing Practices Act in practice: ads, social media and AI

What is the Danish Marketing Practices Act?

The Marketing Practices Act sets the framework for business marketing in Denmark. It applies to private businesses and to public ones when they offer products on the market. The Danish Consumer Ombudsman monitors compliance. The latest consolidated version is on retsinformation.dk. The new rules on environmental claims are in the amending act from May 2025.

Five provisions are especially important in digital marketing:

• Section 3: You must observe good marketing practice.
• Section 5: You must not mislead, not even with information that is correct on its own.
• Section 6(4): The commercial intent must be made clear. This is the ban on hidden advertising.
• Section 10: You must have consent before you send marketing by email, text message and the like.
• Section 13: You must be able to document that your factual claims are correct.

What does good marketing practice mean?

Good marketing practice means your marketing must take consumers, other businesses and the general public interest into account. That's in Section 3. The provision is broad and also covers considerations such as taste and decency.

Children and young people under 18 get extra protection. Marketing aimed at them must take their credulity and lack of experience into account. On social media, it must also not be carried out through profiles that belong to children under 15 or appear to (Section 11). The Consumer Ombudsman says advertising aimed at children and young people must be marked very clearly.

When is an ad misleading?

An ad is misleading when it contains false information or gives a false impression that can affect the customer's decision. That's in Section 5, and it applies even when each individual piece of information is correct.

Three things often go wrong:

• Claims without documentation. If you write "Denmark's cheapest" or "halves your consumption", you must be able to document it (Section 13). If you don't have the documentation, rewrite the claim.
• False urgency and false "free". It's always misleading to say a product is only available for a very short time when that isn't true. That's in Annex 1 of the act. The same goes for "free" when the customer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding and having the item delivered.
• Green claims. From 27 September 2026, generic environmental claims such as "green" and "climate-friendly" are always misleading without proof of recognised excellent environmental performance. That could be, for example, performance that meets the EU Ecolabel or the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. The Consumer Ombudsman has described the new rules on environmental marketing.

How must advertising be marked on social media?

Advertising must be marked so the recipient knows it's advertising before or while they see it. This follows from Section 6(4). The requirement also covers posts from influencers who get something for mentioning you, and it's one of the rules you need to have in place in your social media marketing. Only when the context already makes it clear can the marking be left out. The Consumer Ombudsman has a page on hidden advertising on social media.

According to the Consumer Ombudsman, it isn't clear marking just to:

• tag the business or use a hashtag
• write it at the end of the text
• mark the first post or the first story in a series
• write "in collaboration with" or "sponsored by"

The recommendation is to write "reklame for" or "annonce for" (Danish for "advertisement for") and the business's name as the very first thing in every post. For images and video without text, they recommend that the marking appears in the image or video itself, and for video as the first thing in the title. The Consumer Ombudsman doesn't recommend relying on the platforms' own ad labels alone. They usually don't meet the requirement.

A benefit counts as payment. If an influencer gets free products, a discount, commission, products on loan or an invitation to an event, the mention is advertising. There doesn't have to be a formal agreement. Nor does responsibility lie only with the influencer. Based on a specific assessment, the business behind the product can also be held liable. Read more about influencer marketing.

When can you send newsletters and text messages?

You may send marketing by email, text message and other electronic mail when the recipient has given their consent in advance. That's in Section 10, and it applies to all recipients: consumers, businesses and public authorities. The Consumer Ombudsman has guidance on the spam ban.

Four things often come as a surprise:

• You can't ask for permission by email. An email or text message asking for consent to marketing is itself marketing.
• Consent must be freely given, informed, unambiguous and specific. A pre-ticked box doesn't give valid consent. At a minimum, the wording must say who is sending, how you'll send, and that consent can be withdrawn. You must be able to document the consent. Read more about e-mail permissions.
• Social media counts too. Messages and notifications on social media are also electronic mail. That's why you can't require competition entrants to tag others.
• Previous customers are an exception. If a customer gave their email address when making a purchase, you may send marketing about your own similar products. The customer must be able to say no, both when they gave the address and in every email afterwards.

What applies to prices and offers?

Prices for consumers must always be shown including VAT and fees, the first time the customer sees the price and at every step of the purchase. For a price reduction, you must state the lowest price the item has had in the 30 days before the reduction. This also applies when you use words like "offer prices" or "Black Friday prices".

The Consumer Ombudsman calls it misleading to raise a price artificially so you can lower it again. According to its guidelines, before-and-now prices are fine when the before price has applied for 30 consecutive days immediately before the reduction, and the offer generally lasts 10 days. Read the Consumer Ombudsman's page on prices and savings claims before you plan your next Black Friday.

Does the Marketing Practices Act also apply to AI-generated content?

Yes. The Marketing Practices Act has no exception for content made by AI. You're the ones doing the marketing, and you're the ones who must be able to document the claims. A number an AI has made up is a claim without documentation.

Three areas need extra attention:

• Reviews and customer quotes. Fake reviews are always prohibited under Annex 1 of the act. A review or quote written by AI isn't a customer's words.
• Product images. An AI image must not make the product, the result or the place look better than it is. Something can also be misleading because of the way it is shown (Section 5).
• Deepfakes. From 2 August 2026, anyone who creates a deepfake with AI must disclose that the content has been artificially generated or manipulated. This follows from the EU AI Act. The Danish Agency for Digital Government's example is a company video in which a well-known person says something they've never said. Read its overview of the rules.

Amplify's checklist before a campaign goes live

This is the list we use at Amplify before an ad, a post or an email goes out. It isn't legal approval. It catches the mistakes before they get expensive.

1. A source for every claim. Every number, every comparison and every "best" or "cheapest" has a source before the copy goes out. What we can't document, we rewrite or remove.
2. A genuine offer. If there's a before price, it's the lowest from the last 30 days. If it says "today only", that's true.
3. Ad and landing page say the same thing. Our AI review holds the ad's promise up against the top of the page the customer lands on. If the page doesn't deliver on the promise, the specialist looks at it before the campaign runs.
4. Advertising is marked first. Paid mentions and influencer partnerships start with "reklame for" or "annonce for".
5. Consent before email and text messages. The list only includes recipients who have said yes. It's easy to unsubscribe in every email.
6. A person approves. A specialist approves everything AI has written or created before it goes out. Reviews and customer quotes are always genuine. We never write them ourselves, and neither does AI.
7. Doubts get passed on. If we're unsure about a rule, the question ends up with me. From there, it often goes to the client's own adviser.

Frequently asked questions about the Marketing Practices Act

Who enforces the Marketing Practices Act?

The Danish Consumer Ombudsman enforces the Marketing Practices Act. That's in Section 25 of the act. At forbrugerombudsmanden.dk, you'll find guidance and decided cases.

Does the Marketing Practices Act also apply between businesses?

Yes. The spam ban applies to all recipients, and a separate chapter prohibits misleading other businesses and sets rules for comparative advertising.

Can you get a campaign assessed in advance?

Yes. Under Section 30, a business can ask the Consumer Ombudsman for an advance statement on planned marketing. The advance statement isn't binding. If the Consumer Ombudsman approves something, it won't step in itself when you use it within a reasonable time.

What happens if you break the Marketing Practices Act?

Breaches of a number of the act's provisions can be punished with a fine. Actions that breach the act can also be banned by a court ruling.

Your next step

Pull out your three latest campaigns: an ad, a post and a newsletter. Go through them with the checklist. Can you document every claim? Does the ad marking come first? Have all recipients said yes? Whatever doesn't hold up is your first fix.

If you're unsure about a campaign, get in touch before it goes live. We'll bring the checklist.