Alcohol Marketing Regulation: From Research to Public Policy

Introduction

Alcohol marketing, promotion and sponsorship are widespread in most of the world today. Alcohol marketing is evolving constantly and utilizes multiple channels, including youth-oriented radio, television, sports events and popular music concerts, websites, social media, mobile phones and product placements in movies and TV shows. Marketers are moving increasingly to digital and social media, where efforts at regulation have fallen far behind industry innovations in producing audience engagement and brand ambassadorship.

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with numerous negative consequences to the health and wellbeing of consumers as well as others affected by drinkers' behavior. With the advent of recent restrictions on tobacco marketing as a result of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, no other legal product with such potential for harm is as promoted and advertised in the world. Most countries have no statutory legislation regulating the exposure of children or adults to alcohol marketing, so they must rely only upon self-regulatory codes developed and implemented by the alcohol industry.