Going beyond ads on alcohol

The days when advertising was the only form of marketing are long gone, if they ever truly existed. That’s why nine of the largest European alcohol producers have agreed to strengthen their voluntary commitments well beyond paid media space to cover influencers and sponsorship.

Both channels are growing areas of investment for all brands whatever the category. Globally, brands invested $250 billion in sponsorships in 2024, a record high (WARC). Meanwhile, influencer marketing continues to grow, with 60% of global marketers reporting its increasing importance. The market is expected to reach $32.5 billion by the end of 2025.

The RMP is designed to further limit minors’ exposure to alcohol marketing in line with the UN’s calls for a ‘whole-of-society’ approach where the private sector plays an important role through self-regulation – reasserted on 25 September 2025 during the UN High-Level Meeting on the control and prevention of non-communicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing.

The expanded commitments also respond to growing calls for greater protection of minors online and align with the objectives of the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Business and Marketing Practices.

New Guidance on Sponsorship

The RMP’s updated approach encourages signatories – who account for 70% of European alcohol advertising and include AB InBev, Bacardi, The Coca-Cola Company, Moët Hennessy, Carlsberg, Heineken, Brown-Forman, Diageo and Pernod Ricard – to adjust their sponsorship practices in the following ways:

• Collaborate with partners such as right’s holders, media agencies and distribution partners to clearly establish the audience composition with the view to ensuring that at least 70% of in-person attendees are above the country’s legal purchasing age.
• Such assessment should include a variety of data, from ticket sales to audience measurement data and other alternatives with the objective to gain a deeper understanding of audience composition over time.
• Additionally, signatories will aim to include prominent responsible drinking initiatives in events that they sponsor as well as avoid, where possible, featuring athletes under 25 on sponsored materials.

Strengthened rules on Influencer Marketing

The RMP commitments also address the rise of influencer marketing, introducing stricter measures:

• Paid influencers should be more than 25 years old unless robust age-affirmation mechanisms are in place. Influencers should not be associated with harmful alcohol consumption.
• Agreements with influencers or their agencies must include specific responsible marketing requirements when promoting alcoholic beverages online.
• Any content that violates RMP standards should be removed within 72 hours.
• Posts must avoid creative elements that disproportionately appeal to minors, in line with a predefined list of restricted content types developed by the RMP that includes, for example, celebrities or animated characters primarily appealing to minors.

These new rules come on top of the long-standing commitment by signatories to conduct responsible marketing.

The RMP, created in 2014, already covers the placement, appeal and digital presence of brands. Third-party audited research shows that just 0.28% of all ads seen online are for alcohol (all ages) and a minor is served just one alcohol ad per 1,936 websites visited.

More recently, in 2024, WFA carrieda monitoring on its ‘digital controls’, showing that 95% of company owned social media profiles and websites were fully in line with commitments on age-gating, presence of responsible drinking messages or forward advice notice, ensuring an online space free from alcohol ads for minors.

These commitments represent a cross-industry response at a time of increasingly political and regulatory pressure on the sector. Globally, the UN Political Declaration on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, adopted on 25 September, encourages Member States to consider alcohol marketing restrictions in line with the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030.

In the EU, the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) is expected to address both sponsorship and influencer marketing. The latter could also be addressed under the Digital Fairness Act, which aims to improve consumer protection online and address harmful influencer marketing practices.

Countries are moving forward with restrictions. In France, despite the already restrictive Loi Evin limiting the content, placement and sponsorship of alcohol marketing, deputees have proposed a full ban on influencer marketing for alcohol. In Finland, the government is considering similar legislation.

The alcohol sector recognises its responsibilities and the expansion of RMP commitments is a signal of the industry's willingness to align with societal and regulatory expectations.

The RMP’s scope may be focused on the EU but its approach is being applied to global marketing codes, resulting in a much broader international impact. The impact already being delivered by this approach can be seen in our latest annual report.

Both WFA and RMP recognise that both policy and society never stay still and will continue to support signatories in staying ahead of policy and societal developments, ensuring more minors than ever see less alcohol messaging than ever before.