www.alkoholpolitik.ch

In this issue:

NCD Alcohol Target Dropped to Placate Drinks Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives used “to undermine alcohol control policies”

Free trade agreements “threaten public health”

Global Alcohol Policy Conference – DECLARATION

Adults in Europe consume three standard alcoholic drinks per day on average New report on alcohol in European Union
and more….
THE GLOBE No. 2, 2012

Minors are often able to buy alcohol online, because many Internet alcohol sellers and shipping companies do not verify the buyer’s age, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recruited eight participants, ages 18 to 20, to try to buy wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages online. They were told to lie about their age when filling out order forms. If they were asked to verify their age by a delivery person, they were instructed to say they were not yet 21, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Participants placed orders at 100 Internet sites, and most deliveries were made by FedEx or United Parcel Service. Of those orders, 45 were successfully made and received. Just 28 orders were rejected because the person placing the order was found to be a minor. The rest of the orders did not go through because there were technical difficulties, or because no one was home at the time of attempted delivery. …
(Source: Join Together, 05/8/12)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is requiring 14 major alcoholic beverage producers to provide information about their online marketing. The FTC will use the information for a study that will guide recommendations on how the alcohol industry should regulate itself, both online and offline.

The last time the FTC completed an alcohol marketing study was in 2008, using data from 2005, according to The Kansas City Star. That study found only 1.9 percent of alcohol marketing expenditures went toward Internet efforts.

The marketing landscape has changed dramatically since then, with a much greater emphasis on social media. For example, Bacardi has at least seven Facebook pages, with a total of 1.7 million fans, according to David Jernigan, Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. He notes that Captain Morgan Rum has a video game app for iPhones. Many companies connect with consumers through Twitter. …
(Source: Join Together, 05/3/12)

Summary:
Drink responsibly” messages function as one tool in the alcohol industry’s marketing toolbox to promote, grow loyalty to and build credibility for its brands. The “drink responsibly” slogan also serves as a public relations distraction for alcohol corporations fighting evidence-based, effective policies such as increasing alcohol taxes, restricting alcohol advertising, and maintaining state control of alcohol sales. There is no evidence to show that “drink responsibly” messages are an effective strategy for reducing alcohol consumption or related harm. Much like Big Tobacco’s anti-smoking campaigns, alcohol industry facades like “drink responsibly” are counterproductive and could backfire, increasing intent to use the product instead of decreasing alcohol-related harm. …
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 05/01/12)

In Focus
Self-regulation is not an answer
AMMIE Final Report: European alcohol industry fails in protecting young people towards alcohol marketing
News from Eurocare
Actis: Loss of income if the pubs close one hour earlier

News from the European Union Institutions

News from across Europe

News from the World Health Organization

Upcoming events

(Source: Eurocare, 05/03/12)

School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Bath BA2 9BN, UK

Aims: To provide a snapshot content analysis of social media marketing among leading alcohol brands in the UK, and to outline the implications for both regulatory policies and further research. Methods: Using screengrab technology, the complete Facebook walls and Twitter timelines for 12 leading UK alcohol brands in November 2011 were captured and archived. A total of 701 brand-authored posts were identified and categorized using a thematic coding frame. Key strategic trends were identified and analysed in the light of contextual research into recent developments in marketing practice within the alcohol industry…..
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/25/12) alcalc.oxfordjournals.org, 04/23/12

TELL L.A. City Public Safety Committee to Stop Sitting on the Motion to Ban Alcohol Ads on Public Property. Last summer, with your help, we banned alcohol ads from 6,000 bus benches in the City of Los Angeles. Now let’s ban alcohol ads completely from all Los Angeles public property.

Councilmember Richard Alarcón introduced a motion to ban alcohol ads city-wide last year, but the Public Safety Committee is refusing to bring the motion forward.
It’s time to mobilize, and organize to protect our children from „city-authorized“ alcohol ads!

SEND your letter to the L. A. Public Safety Committee Telling them to MOVE THE MOTION to Ban Alcohol Ads from All L.A Public Property!
TAKE ACTION NOW (Source: Alcohol Justice, 04/19/12)

Last month the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that flavored malt beverages, also known as alcopops, are distilled spirits and should be classified and taxed as such, instead of the beer tax rate the state has been using. The ruling meant 12 times more alcopops tax revenue for the budget-beleaguered state, and less access to alcopops for youth, whom producers target with these products.

A ruling like that should have policymakers celebrating, wouldn’t you think? After all, their responsibility is to serve the health and welfare of the public they represent, along with keeping a balanced budget for the state. Or is it? Just one month after the ruling, state legislators effectively overturned the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision with LB 824. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved the legislation April 6. The new law keeps the status quo intact: taxing alcopops at the beer rate and keeping the products available wherever beer is sold. …

It’s no surprise to see certain legislators going out of their way to please the powerful alcohol industry lobby at the expense of the communities they are supposed to represent. However, we don’t often see a legislature deliberately override the state supreme court in order to make alcohol companies happy. Welcome to the Doghouse, Nebraska Legislature and Governor Heineman.
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 04/17/12)

Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers.

Last week, major producers from the alcohol industry together with the World Federation of Advertising presented The Responsible Marketing Pact which scales up self-regulation[1]..

As a response, Civil Society Organisations with diverse backgrounds are now reminding policy makers at European and Member State level about the need for better regulation and co-regulation, and urge the European Commission and Member States officials not to jump on easy solutions in a new EU Alcohol Strategy 2013-2020.

“It cannot be left to the producers of a harmful product to decide how, when and where it will be marketed. Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers. The content of this pact is basically the old ineffective measures of self-regulation in a new package. What we are witnessing are two powerful industries formally coming together to fight regulation- this is alarming”, says Mariann Skar, Secretary General of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance. …
Source: Eurocare.org, 04/25/12)
also: press release Active, 04/25/12)

Conclusion new research: Introduction of a legal ban on alcohol advertising is the only real solution

Young people in Europe are regularly confronted with alcohol advertising on television. New European research shows that the functioning of the so called self-regulation of alcohol marketing does not protect young people against the exposure of alcohol commercials.

This conclusion is in conflict with recent statements of the alcohol industry. This industry claims that self-regulation is functioning perfect and has to be expanded. The AMMIE researchers conclude that only a total ban on alcohol advertising can prevent the harmful impact of alcohol advertising on the drinking levels of young people.

The new research is a part of the AMMIE project (Alcohol Monitoring Marketing in Europe); the project is co-financed by the European Commission and coordinated by the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy (STAP). The research has been implemented in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in cooperation with the John Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health in the US.

The summary report of the AMMIE project ‘Commercial promotion of drinking in Europe’ will be presented Thursday the 26th of April at the European Alcohol and Health Forum of the European Commission. …
(Source: EUCAM, Press release, Wednesday 25th of April 2012)