cares commercial-communication successful-international-conference-on-digital-alcohol-marketing-in-amsterdam
Participants impressed with research results. Effective policy has yet to get going in many European countries. Comprehensive alcohol advertising restrictions are more effective.
Participants impressed with research
results.
Thursday,
September 19, the conference "Digital Alcohol Marketing in the Spotlight"
took place in Amsterdam. The conference was organised by the University of
Amsterdam, The European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare) and the European
Center for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing (EUCAM). Nearly 75 participants from a
total of 15 European countries listened to new research pertaining to the recent
rise in alcohol advertising via social media. The research of Dr. Hanneke
Hendriks (Amsterdam University), Dr. Nathan Critchlow (University of Stirling,
Scotland) and Alina Willoh (University of Twente, the Netherlands) about the
role of young so-called ‘influencers’ and alcohol industry sponsorship, showed
that there is a rapid expansion of alcohol advertising targeted at young people
in these channels.
Effective policy has yet to get going in many European
countries.
Despite
the clear evidence presented that alcohol advertising in digital media
increases alcohol consumption among minors, it appeared that few countries have
taken measures to effectively regulate it. The presentation by Aleksandra
Kaczmarek (Eurocare) showed that confidence in the effectiveness of the
existing European minimum marketing regulations (AVMSD) and the largely
comparable self-regulation by the alcohol industry is minimal. Researcher Emmi
Kauppila from the University of Helsinki was able to demonstrate on the recent
regulation of digital alcohol advertising in Finland has had positive effects
in moderating advertising content online. Speakers from Norway, Hanna Cecilie
Widnes Msc, IOGT Norway, and Lithuania, Nijole Gostautaite Midttun, NTAKK
Lithuania, indicated that the total bans on alcohol advertising in their
countries were effective also when it came to reducing youth exposure to
alcohol advertising in social media channels.
Comprehensive alcohol advertising restrictions are
more effective.
On the
basis of the following panel discussion on regulation, it was concluded that
encompassing restrictions such as Norway’s and Lithuania’s total bans, are the most effective when it comes to protecting minors. Developments in advertising
are so fast that more limited restrictions quickly risk becoming outdated.
There were also indications that enforcement improves when countries move to such
comprehensive bans. It can be expected that more policymakers will delve into
the complexity and rapid growth of digital forms of alcohol advertising in the coming
years and hopefully the research and policy-learning presented at this
conference can feed into that work.