Singing from the same song sheet: Developing consensus on alcohol marketing regulation
Everyone should be able to live, work, and raise children in communities that are safe and free from harm. Sadly, this opportunity is not afforded to the many Australians who experience harms caused by alcohol.
Alcohol products take a significant toll on our communities, fuelling violence, injuries, and deaths. Every year, almost 6,000 lives are lost and more than 144,000 people are hospitalised from the use of alcohol products. Alcohol use causes over 200 disease and injury conditions, including cancer.
Despite the considerable harms caused by alcohol, the Australian community is surrounded by alcohol promotions encouraging them to drink. Alcohol companies spend millions of dollars each year promoting alcohol as an essential part of our everyday lives, telling us that no occasion is complete without their products.
While alcohol is still heavily promoted on television, outdoors, and at sporting games, marketing now extends far beyond traditional media. Opportunities for alcohol marketing via digital technologies are expansive, including on social media platforms, competitive online video gaming such as esports, television streaming services, and more. Alcohol companies target the Australian community with 40,000 alcohol ads a year on Facebook and Instagram alone. In addition, non-alcohol products, like branded merchandise and zero-alcohol drinks, are increasingly being used by alcohol companies to further promote their brands.
While this relentless marketing benefits the alcohol industry, it comes at a cost to the community. The more children and young people are exposed to alcohol advertising, the more likely they are to start using alcohol products at a younger age, and to drink more if they are already using alcohol. The constant flow of pro-alcohol messages can be confronting for people with lived experience of alcohol harm and people with alcohol dependence or managing an Alcohol Use Disorder.
Consensus on alcohol marketing regulation is needed
Health, medical, and community organisations across Australia have been calling for action on alcohol marketing for decades. The World Health Organization recommends governments enact and enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol marketing across multiple types of media, as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing harm from alcohol. Despite clear evidence outlining the need for stronger marketing regulation, Australia continues to rely largely on ineffective voluntary, alcohol industry-led codes and practices.
Recognising the need for a coordinated approach to help encourage change, Alcohol Change Australia established a Community of Practice focussed on alcohol marketing in December 2022. The intention of the group was to build capacity across sectors, give participants a platform for information sharing, and encourage the development of best practice regulatory and advocacy approaches.
The Community of Practice has more than 40 participants, with representation from almost every Australian jurisdiction. Participants include researchers, experts, and professionals from a range of non-government organisations and tertiary institutes, with a shared focus of working in research, policy, and advocacy focused on alcohol marketing regulation. Since December 2022, the group has met quarterly.
Developing consensus on alcohol marketing regulation
In addition to providing a platform for information-sharing and collaboration, Alcohol Change Australia wanted to draw on the expertise and membership of the group to develop a consistent set of recommendations around alcohol marketing regulation that had sector-wide input and support. For the first six months of 2023, Alcohol Change Australia led the development of a national position statement on alcohol marketing regulation. Community of Practice members provided input and feedback on all stages of development of the position statement and reached broad consensus on the final recommendations. The position statement was informed by and aligns with policy work and positions on alcohol marketing regulation of other organisations.
The position statement clearly articulates that the Australian Government must introduce higher standards for how the alcohol industry promotes its products by:
1. Introducing a comprehensive and robust regulatory framework with legislative basis that effectively minimises community exposure to alcohol marketing. Key components of this framework should include a legislative design that is tailored to fit existing media and capture new and emerging media, active monitoring with appropriate penalties for non-compliance, and the capacity to capture marketing of zero-alcohol products.
2. Strengthening data protection laws to protect the collection and use of data for alcohol marketing purposes.
Organisations across the public health sector are encouraged to use the national policy position statement for their policy and advocacy work.
Where to from here?
The Community of Practice continues to meet virtually once a quarter and has become a self-sustaining and self-facilitated national working group with active, engaged members. It has brought together people working on alcohol marketing policy and research from across Australia, and provides a platform for sharing of intelligence, research, knowledge, ideas, and collaboration opportunities. In working together, we can continue to effectively call for strong, independent regulation of marketing to better protect the Australian community.
Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a small grant from the Australian Rechabite Foundation.
Hannah Pierce is Executive Officer for Alcohol Change Australia. For more information on Alcohol Change Australia, including its members and policy platform, visit www.alcoholchangeaus.org.au. You can also follow @AlcoholChangeAu on X (Twitter) and on LinkedIn.
Content moderator: Sarah Jane Fenton