Can advertising campaigns sponsored by the alcohol beverage industry promote responsible drinking? Early indications show that such campaigns may be effective at educating consumers.
According to a recent article published in Ad Age Global, in the UK, “10 – and 11-year-olds are more likely to recognize Carlsberg lager than Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and they’re more familiar with fictional characters in a Foster’s beer commercial than with those from an ad for Cadbury chocolate.”
The article is based on a study released by UK-based Alcohol Concern, which argues that the UK’s alcohol-advertising restrictions simply don’t work. Alcohol Concern cites a 25% increase in liver deaths in the past decade, and the problem of binge drinking isn’t just affecting youth, it’s now become a major problem for the middle-aged and the middle-class.
Due to this, pressure is mounting on the alcohol beverage industry, and the UK government has signaled its own concern calling for the industry to “market, advertise, and sell products in a responsible way and deliver the core commitment to foster the culture of responsible drinking.”
Prime Minister David Cameron recently banned super market discounts and introduced his minimum pricing scheme, which would put the cost of a unit of alcohol at about 64 cents. However, minimum pricing has received its fair share of criticism in which the spotlight may well return to advertising regulations.
So can it be done? Can the alcohol beverage industry, whose livelihood depends on the sales of its products create effective advertising campaigns promoting drinking responsibility and the adverse effects of alcohol abuse? Reports from the EU indicate that in fact, they can.
Beverage industry makes headway with responsibility campaigns
In Belgium, leading producers from the beer, wine, and spirits sectors have launched a comprehensive initiative to strengthen independent advertising self-regulatory schemes for alcohol beverage marketing by establishing a set of common, rigorous standards for their marketing communications throughout the European Union. Producers such as AB InBev, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and SAB Miller will make up the Responsible Marketing Pact and work with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), EU and national associations to agree and implement common standards for responsible advertising and marketing aimed at adults of legal purchase age, which will be subject to external scrutiny through independent monitoring and public reporting.
SAB Miller has already published an independently audited report highlighting their success of such efforts. “We are very serious about the advertising of responsible consumption of alcohol. The results of the independent audit clearly show that we provide the consumers with logical information about the principles of responsible consumption. We wish for our consumers to enjoy our products responsibly,” says Drahomíra Mandíková, director of Communication and Internal Relations of Plzeňský Prazdroj.
The effects of alcohol abuse are not limited to just the UK. The irresponsible consumption of alcohol is a worldwide problem that plagues sectors of criminal justice, healthcare, and society as a whole. We acknowledge and commend the alcohol beverage industry for taking a proactive stance in the fight against alcohol misuse.
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