Information only, not legal advice. Book a free consultation with For Founders Law for advice specific to your digital business.

Giveaways can be a low-cost growth engine. When they are set up properly, they build your list, fill calendars, and create genuine buzz for clinics, studios, e-commerce brands, SaaS companies, and creator-led businesses. When the basics are missing, they invite complaints, platform flags, and reputation risk. This guide explains how to run a promotional contest across Canada (excluding Québec) that boosts engagement and stays onside with Canadian law.

Think of your rules as two layers that work together.

Short rules are the terms people see at the exact moment you invite entries: Instagram captions or stories, a landing page, an email, or in-store signage. They must be visible at the point of entry and give “adequate and fair disclosure” of key facts under Section 74.06 of the Competition Act.

Long rules live on one clean web page and carry the full terms and conditions. Every post and ad should link to this page. Using one standard version keeps the program consistent and defensible if questions arise.

Your short rules should clearly state the essentials so entrants can make an informed decision. Include:

Long rules live on a web page and tell the complete story in plain English. This should include:

Section 206 of the Criminal Code prohibits illegal lotteries. If chance plays a role in selecting winners, do not require a purchase or other consideration to enter. A practical setup for most brands is straightforward: provide a genuine no-purchase entry path and require the winner to correctly answer a skill-testing question before awarding a prize. If you intend to tie entry to payment or purchase, the promotion must be a true skill-only contest, which is harder to design correctly.

This article assumes Canada outside Québec. If you are excluding Québec, say so in both your short rules and your long rules. If you later include Québec, plan for French-language requirements and different consumer-protection nuances. In your long rules, name the governing law and where disputes will be handled; Ontario works for many national campaigns. If you open the promotion to the United States or other countries, have local requirements reviewed before launch.

Treat contest creative like paid advertising. If you use third-party logos, photographs, music, or characters, get permission or use licensed stock. Add a simple copyright notice to your long rules, and make it clear that your names, logos, and graphics cannot be reused without consent.

Say “enter for a chance to win,” not “win,” unless every entrant receives the same thing. Ensure prize photos match reality. If prizes are awarded over time, state that counts will decrease as they are awarded. Always place short rules where you collect entries and link directly to the long rules. Before posting anything, compare short and long rules line by line to confirm that the dates, eligibility, entry method, prize counts, and values match.

If list growth is a goal, build it under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL"). Ask for express consent with clear, unchecked boxes that state who you are, what you will send, and that unsubscribing is easy. Keep timestamped consent in your CRM or email tool. Be cautious with “share with a friend for extra entries” mechanics; unsolicited referral emails can create CASL problems. Organic social sharing is generally fine if you are not pushing messages into inboxes without consent.

Explain what personal information you collect, why you collect it, how it will be used, where it is stored, and which vendors help you process it. Link to your Privacy Policy from the long rules and ensure it reflects your actual tools and providers. Collect only what you need to run the contest and deliver prizes. If data may be processed outside Canada or you expect EU/EEA visitors, add the required notices and safeguards underCanada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") and, where applicable, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").

Disclose the relationship clearly and conspicuously, think “Paid partnership with …” or #ad near the start of the caption. Partner posts should mirror your short rules and link to the long rules. Follow each platform's promotion policies and save screenshots of live posts.

Use a simple winner release for each prize, especially for higher-value or higher-risk experiences. Confirm eligibility, rule compliance, and the skill-testing answer, then deliver quickly. Fast, accurate fulfillment is part of brand protection.

Planning a giveaway or launch contest for your clinic, studio, e-commerce brand, SaaS product, or creator-led business? For Founders Law is a Toronto social-media and digital-business law practice for med spas, wellness brands, and online creators. We draft clean, compliant Canadian contest rules, review your creative and funnels, and help you grow your list without inviting complaints, platform flags, or illegal-lottery issues.

If you want legal eyes on your next promotion, you can book a free consultation with For Founders Law.

For Founders Law is a Toronto-based practice built for influencers, founders, and digital-first businesses. I help you launch promotions with clean rules, consistent creative, and compliant list-growth flows — so you can grow fast without preventable contest, platform, or advertising risk.