Leading alcohol beverage producers agree to extend common marketing standards and reinforce self-regulation across the EU

But alcohol control advocates are not convinced Leading producers from the beer, wine and spirits sectors have launched an initiative to strengthen independent advertising self-regulatory schemes for alcohol beverage marketing by establishing a set of common standards for their marketing communications throughout the European Union.

However, critics of the alcohol industry responded by saying that industry self-regulation has consistently failed and that there is no reason to believe the new initiative will make any significant difference.

Responsible Marketing Pact Under the Responsible Marketing Pact, AB InBev, Bacardi, Brown- Forman, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and SAB Miller, which together represent a majority of European alcohol advertising spend, will work with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), EU and national associations to agree and implement common standards for responsible advertising and marketing aimed at adults of legal purchase age, which will be subject to external scrutiny through independent monitoring and public reporting.

The claim is that, for the first time ever, the Responsible Marketing Pact will create common, rigorous standards supported by major beer, wine and spirits producers throughout the EU to:

Prevent minors from inadvertently seeing alcohol beverage marketing communications on social media. This will include common standards for effective age-controls, Facebook sponsored stories, user-generated content, sharing/forwarding functionality, etc.

Set a common adult demographic standard for alcohol beverage marketing communications across all media, thereby limiting undue exposure of minors to drinks ads. This will take the form of a common baseline standard that ads may only be placed in media where at least 70% of the audience is reasonably expected to be above legal purchase age.

Prohibit any alcohol beverage marketing communications that might be particularly attractive to minors by ensuring that the content of ads appeals primarily to adults. The initiative will provide consistent guidelines and enforcement in both letter and spirit of rules to ensure ads primarily appeal to adults of the legal purchase age.

Once these standards have been agreed, implementation and compliance will be independently monitored by Accenture and national advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs) across Europe, and will be publicly reported. The initiative also aims to task SROs with enforcing the standards at the national level with sanctions including public naming and shaming, mandatory pre-clearance for future campaigns, and referral to the competent national regulatory authorities in cases of repeat offences.

The Responsible Marketing Pact takes the form of a “commitment” by WFA and the companies to the European Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF). The EAHF is the flagship programme of the European Strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol-related harm. Chaired by the European Commission, it brings together alcohol beverage producers, civil society and consumer representatives, the medical profession, the advertising and retail sectors and others to promote voluntary actions to help reduce alcohol-related harm in Europe.

As an EAHF commitment, the Responsible Marketing Pact has to comply with the monitoring and reporting requirements of the EAHF. It will be subject to continuous oversight by the European Commission and WFA will present a first progress report on implementation and compliance with the agreed common standards by June 2013. A final report is due by February 2015.

“This is a unique case of our industry pooling its collective resources and experiences to build common alcohol marketing standards that will stand the test of time. The pact represents a major milestone in responsible marketing”, said Andrew Morgan, President of Diageo Europe.

“By setting self-regulatory standards that go significantly further than the law, and verifying that these are complied with, we will make a tangible difference to the governance of beverage alcohol marketing. This is an excellent example of the contribution of voluntary action to the objectives of the European Strategy on reducing alcohol-related harm”, said Christian Barré, CEO of Domecq Bodegas, Pernod Ricard.

“Self-regulation is not the answer” Responding to the launch, a network of alcohol control organisations led by Eurocare issued a statement arguing that Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers.

The organisations urged 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”, said Mariann Skar, Secretary General of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance.

Not only the lack of effective regulation that reduces the volume of marketing is of great concern, but also the internal character of the self-regulatory system is problematic. “The very least the Commission should do is setting the standards for the self-regulation – and standards aimed at protecting health should be meaningful and drawn up in consultation with the health community, with a clear mandate for progression to more overt regulation (Loi Evin) when it becomes clear that the industry is not abiding by them”, says Dr Nick Sheron, the Royal College of Physicians (UK) representative to the EU Alcohol Forum.

A self-regulatory approach to alcohol marketing and health warning labels has recently been put forward as an important element in a new EU Alcohol Strategy. However, self-regulation has proved not to fulfil its purpose. For example, back in 2007, the UK Government tried a voluntary labelling scheme. Regrettably, the industry did not keep its own promises and only 15% complied with the agreement they drafted themselves.

“The alcohol industry has had more than a fair chance to prove selfregulation can work”, says Andrea Lavesson, President of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace. “Evidence shows that self-regulation does not work for protecting children and youth”.

Europe is still the heaviest drinking region in the world, and the problems arising from alcohol harm are not only matters for Member States alone, but need to be addressed at the EU level to be effectively solved.

Eurocare, together with 28 European and national NGOs (see list below), calls for the European Commission and governments to take concrete and binding decisions that will help us all to address the alcohol related harm in the new EU Alcohol Strategy.

SIGNATORIES Actis (Norway)
Active – Sobriety, Friendship and Peace (Europe)
Alcohol Action Ireland
Alcohol Concern (United Kingdom)
Alcohol Policy Youth Network - APYN (Europe)
ANPAA - Assocation Nationale de Prevention en Alcoologie et Addictologie (France)
Asociacion Ex-Alcoholicos Españoles (Spain)
Association of European Cancer Leagues (Europe)
Associacio Rauxa (Spain) CRA-Ricardo Pampuri (Portugal)
VAD (Belgium)
EMNA (Europe)
European Association for the Study of the Liver (Europe)
EPHA - European Public Health Alliance (Europe)
Estonian Temperance Union (Estionia)
Fundación Salud y Comunidad (Spain)
IOGT International
IOGT Germany
IOGT-NTO (Sweden)
National Tobacco and Alcohol Control Coalition (Lithuania)
National Youth Council of Ireland (Ireland)
North West Alcohol Forum (Ireland)
Novo Rumo (Portugal)
Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom)
SOCIDROGALCOHOL (Spain)
Sociedade Anti- Alcoólica Portuguesa (Portugal)
Standing Committee of European Doctors (Europe)
STAP (Netherlands)
UTRIP (Slovenia)
PARPA (Poland)
Youth Association No Excuse (Slovenia)