Latest news on the EU and national debates on alcohol advertising at a glance
These news items allow you to have an overview of the latest developments on the EU and national debates in the area of advertising for alcoholic beverages. This review especially focuses on reports on how the advertising industry is responding to these debates by carrying out initiatives in the field of responsible advertising. Most of these reports are the subject of more detailed in-depth analyses that are reserved for egta members (if you are an egta member please visit the extranet for further information). Hopefully this section will help you grasp the relevance of EU and national debates on alcohol advertising for the future of the broadcasting industry.
This section is updated on a regular basis, depending on topicality: most recent news appears at the top of the page. These news memos are fed by the public and regulatory affairs team at egta.
EU DEBATE ON ALCOHOL ADVERTISING & MARKETING
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13 February 2012, Leading spirits producers continue strengthening their commitment to responsible marketing in Europe |
On 13 February the European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) launched a new web-campaign to further promote responsible marketing practices for alcoholic beverages. The goal is to explain, on one site (www.marketresponsibly.eu), how EU-wide codes of conduct on alcohol advertising should be applied.
The site gives advice on:
- The use of registration data to prevent underage social network users (e.g. Facebook) from accessing alcohol marketing content
- Using Age Affirmation Pages (AAP) whenever possible to only reach those above 18 years old
- Monitoring and moderating user-generated content
- Promoting responsible drinking messages to consumers
- Appropriate content to only appeal to those above 18 years old by avoiding depiction of elements of “teen culture” or associating alcohol with a “rite of passage”.
“Responsible marketing practices, agreed and enforced by EFRD members, must be understood and applied by everyone associated with the marketing of their brands”, says Carole Brigaudeau, EFRD Manager. “We are currently spreading this message throughout training road shows held with producers and advertising agencies across Europe as a commitment to the European Alcohol & Health Forum to run until 2013. The online training tool comes to support this “live” training and provides readily accessible information to agencies and marketers 24/7.”
The online training tool contains presentations and tutorials explaining:
- Basic principles of responsible alcohol marketing
- Responsible media planning in all marketing communications including advertising, sponsorship, paid product placement as well as promotional events
- Detailed instructions for new media techniques including: social networks, branded websites, viral marketing, mobile devices, Bluetooth, IM, podcasts, RSS, virtual worlds, mobile app, photo and video sharing, and blogs.
- Content rules to avoid targeting under 18s
EFRD Common Standards on Responsible Marketing Communications are available here.
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8 December 2011, ICAP Announces Release of Guiding Principles for Responsible Beverage Alcohol Marketing |
On 8 December, the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) announced the release of its Guiding Principles for Responsible Beverage Alcohol Marketing associated with the Self-Regulation initiative of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking. These principles serve as a tool for highlighting the underlying global values in responsible advertising and marketing practices across beverage alcohol industry sectors and forming a basis for developing new codes or assessing existing codes in diverse markets.
ICAP developed the Guiding Principles with partners through analysis of existing codes of practice of regulatory and self-regulatory agencies, companies’ own codes, and sector or trade association codes. The Guiding Principles cover five areas: responsible marketing communications, responsible consumption, health and safety aspects in marketing communications, minors and the effects of alcohol.
The Guiding Principles were approved by the sponsors of ICAP: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Asahi Breweries, Bacardi- Martini, Beam Inc., Brown-Forman Corporation, Diageo, Heineken, Molson Coors, Pernod Ricard, SABMiller, and UB Group.
The requirements follow existing Codes such as the Portman Code in the UK and legislation such as the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive in aspects such as alcohol beverage marketing communications must respect human dignity, portray moderate consumption, not suggest that alcohol can cure problems or enhance physical or social success. It should be noted that the Guiding Principles state that alcohol beverage marketing communications be placed only in media which can reasonably be expected to meet stated audience composition targets, where at least 70% of the audience is of the legal purchase age.
The publication of the Guiding Principles was well received by both advertisers and self-regulatory bodies. “For the first time, we now have common global standards for alcohol marketing. This represents a major step in the long-standing commitment by the leading alcohol producers to effective self-regulation,” said World Federation of Advertisers Managing Director Stephan Loerke.
The guiding principles are available here.
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5 October 2011, Leading European & U.S. spirits producers agree on a common approach to self-regulation of digital and social media in the world’s largest advertising markets |
Under new guidelines which came into force on 30 September, advertising of spirits drinks thorough social networking sites, blogs, mobile apps and user-generated content will be strictly controlled. The new guidelines are the result of a collaboration by the European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) in a joint effort to provide a common and consistent approach to responsible advertising through social media.
The guidelines state that spirits marketers will:
- Restrict access to official brand pages for users under 18 years old on social networking sites e.g. Facebook (based on registration information). When such registration does not exist, age affirmation mechanisms will be used prior to direct interaction with a consumer.
- On channels not controlled by spirits marketers, only place advertising if the audience data shows more than 70% of viewers are above 18 years old.
- Monitor brand pages on social networking sites to remove inappropriate user-generated content within 48 hours.
- Display clear privacy policies that ensure compliance with data protection and privacy rules and provide for a speedy unsubscribe process in direct marketing, e.g. e-newsletters.
- Include responsible drinking messages, preferably in the form of a consumer information website address in digital marketing communications, wherever practicable (e.g. www.responsibledrinking.eu).
- Continue using age-checks on brand websites’ access pages with date of birth and country of residence, to comply with national rules.
Due to the technological developments, the principles can be applied to current and emerging digital media thereby future-proofing guidelines for the marketing of spirit drinks.
Along with the new guidelines, the EFRD also published results of its independent monitoring programme assessing the spirits industry’s implementation of one its key responsible marketing commitments: only placing commercial communications in media where more than 70% of the audience is reasonably expected to be 18 years or older.
The report, prepared by Accenture Media Management, reviewed over 50,000 TV spots across a sample of seven EU countries and spirits advertising in the print media in six countries. While all media buying by member companies must comply with the rule on the basis of audience forecasts, the ex-post audience analysis shows that over 96 % of TV ads and 100% of magazine ads were appropriately placed in media where more than 70% of the audience were above legal purchase age.
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19 May 2011, AB InBev to hold conference on drink driving as part of commitment to EU Alcohol and Health Forum |
Anheuser- Busch InBev as part of their commitment to the European Commission’s Alcohol and Health Forum is sponsoring a conference on drink driving which shall be hosted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation. The European Drink Driving Forum will bring together a range of experts on the drink driving issue to discuss challenges and solutions in combating drink driving on Europe’s roads. Participants will include EU and Member State decision-makers, leading international researchers, road safety practitioners and representatives from non-governmental organizations and industry.
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
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Russia 20 July 2011 - President Medvedev signs legislation restricting the sale and advertising of beer |
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed legislation which officially classifies beer as alcohol and places strict restrictions on its sale and advertising. The law will come into effect as of 1 January 2013 and is an attempt to reduce the abuse of alcoholic beverages and the prevention of alcoholism. Previously, any drink containing less than 10 per cent alcohol had been considered as a foodstuff by the government and was not regulated in same manner that spirits like vodka were. Now under the new classification, the law prohibits the sale of beer in unlicensed kiosks, bans its sale between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., and strengthens the restrictions of advertising of alcoholic beverages for more than 5% strength in volume, including beer and beverages manufactured on the basis of beer.
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The Netherlands 13 June 2011 - Heineken receives warning for breaching advertising code during sporting event |
Heineken received a warning by the Advertising Standards Commission which ruled that their actions were against the Advertising Code. In the KNVB football final between FC Twente and Ajax Amsterdam , Heineken provided the celebrating FC Twente players with red Amstel ( brand of beer owned by Heineken) bathrobes. Article 28 of the RvA (Advertising Code for Alcoholic Beverages) states that a sports team cannot be sponsored by an alcohol company. Although Heineken argued that celebrating a victory after a match is not to be regarded as "active sport" and the bathrobes were a gift and not part of the players outfit, the Commission found otherwise. The Commission recommended that the advertiser must not advertise in such a way again.
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The Netherlands 3 April 2011 - Ster has received a €35.000 fine from The Dutch Media Authority due to advertising beer before 9 pm |
The fine is in regards to some Heineken and Bavaria spots that were broadcasted before 9 pm. The decision will soon be published on the website by the regulators. STAP, the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policies, made a complaint to the authorities. In the new Media Law it says that advertising of alcoholic beverages is banned from 6 am to 9 pm. Ster broke this law according to the media regulator, because they did allow alcohol advertising during the commercial blocks of the football matches of the Champions League. The spots were broadcasted around 8.30 pm. Although the Bavaria Spot ‘Mickey Rourke’ advertises alcohol free beer, the authorities still found it unacceptable.
