Alcohol Marketing: 2016 Year in Review

The Responsible Marketing Pact (RMP) is the industry’s flagship response to this challenge and focuses on three core areas. Firstly, it addresses advertising placement by using common controlsto ensure that ads are only placed in media where the audience is composed of at least 70% adults over the legal drinking age. Secondly, it identifies a ‘standard alcohol profile’ on social networks to limit minors’ access to brand communications. finally, it ensures, through a blacklist of creative features, that ads don’t primarily appeal to minors.

2016 was the first year in which the independent monitoring exercise was carried out on the three pillars. The commitment on advertising content was assessed by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) and national self-regulatory organisations (Sros) who found 83% compliance. This is an encouraging start but more clearly needs to be done to ensure that alcohol advertising is not primarily appealing to minors.

The two other RMP pillars – on placement and social media – are being monitored together with the corresponding commitments of the International Alliance for responsible Drinking (IARD) by ebiquity and EASA.

The World Health organization and the wider health community are equally concerned about alcohol advertising in digital media.

In order to respond to these growing concerns, WFA took part in “Protecting underage through responsible Alcohol marketing,” an event organised in the margins of the World Health Assembly by IARD.

Finally, the revision of the Eu Audiovisual media Services Directive harbours the possibility of strict Eu wide controls on alcohol marketing. The group is playing a lead role in representing the RMP as a meaningful and effective component of the policy mix in this context.

For more information, visit the WFA website or contact Agnieszka.