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Alcohol Industry Deny Immoral Marketing Tactics
Advertisers in the alcohol industry have hit back at the British Medical Journal (BMJ) after a damning paper accused the industry of bending the rules of the advertising code of practice by targeting young people in their ads.
Writing for the BMJ, Prof Gerard Hastings was given access to internal documents from advertising companies and leading alcohol brands that had been requested as part of the House of Commons revue of self regulation in advertising.
“Upcoming generations represent a key target for alcohol advertisers. Although the documents mainly refer to this group as starting at the legal drinking age (18 years), this distinction is sometimes lost,” wrote Prof Hastings. Documents were found to target sporting events, music festivals and university students for alcoholic promotions.
Prof Hastings accused the self regulatory system as lax and called on the government to tighten regulations of alcohol promotions through print, TV and online advertising. The paper was met with fierce disapproval form advertising executives, particularly given that the BMJ could find no evidence of malpractice.
“I wish Gerard Hastings would publish his criticism in an advertisement. The Advertising Standards Authority could then rightly ban it for being misleading,” quipped David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group to The Daily Telegraph.
Smirnoff vodka makers Diageo were also cited in the paper. Managing director of the company Simon Litherland said the article was a, “gross misrepresentation of the strict internal marketing process that Diageo applies.”
British industry stands to lose £140 million a year from traditional and digital marketing should alcohol advertising take a similar route to smoking advertising bans in the UK.
Online Advertising news posted by Scott Tickner on 21 January 2010
