European Parliament, Brussels, 3 October. AdVantage, a new platform that brings together decision-makers and representatives from the advertising and media industries, was launched at a reception hosted by three Members of the European Parliament from the EPP and ALDE groups

The platform, which is aimed at encouraging discussions on advertising in the European Parliament, leaves out experts from Consumer Associations or from the Public Health sector. The driving force behind AdVantage is no other than the desire of the industry to protect its economic interests and influence EU policy making concerning advertising

During the event in the MEP salons of the European Parliament, the CEO of the Roularta Media Group described the role of advertising as essential to ensure media independence and diversity. And the representative of Unilever (multi-national corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products), presented a study on “Advertising and Economic Growth”, published by the World Federation of Advertisers and the Union des Annonceurs.

AdVantage is supported by the following industry associations:

·         Association of Commercial Television (ACT)
·         Advertising Information Group (AIG)
·         Association of European Radios (AER)
·         European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA)
·         European Association of Directory and Database Publishers (EADP)
·         Association of television and radio sales houses (egta)
·         European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA)
·         European Publishers Council (EPC)
·         European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP)
·         World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)

The following association and companies supported the launch event: Unilever, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), Gruner + Jahr, Kellogg’s, Kraft and the agency Raum II. 

·         Lunch Briefing on New Approaches to Alcohol Policy
European Parliament, 10 October. The International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) a think tank funded by the major producers of alcohol beverages has organized a lunch briefing to present the alcohol industry’s approach to the reduction of the harm caused by alcohol.

Such an approach, outlined in the book ‘Drinking in Context’, was presented by some of the book’s authors: Prof. Gerry Stimson from IHRA; Dr. Marie Choquet, INSERM and Institut de recherches scientifiques sur les boissons funded by 9 of the major alcohol producers and Ms. Gaye Pedlow from Diageo PLC (the largest multinational beer, wine and spirits company in the world) and Dr. Marjana Martinic from ICAP.

The event was hosted by the EPP-DE shadow rapporteur on the EU Alcohol Strategy, Ms Renate Sommer, and supported by the Brewers of Europe (BoE), the Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV) and The European Spirits Organization (CEPS).