Alcohol

Nowhere do advertisers act in a more responsible way than when advertising alcohol. The drinks industry is rightly proud of its record in marketing alcohol responsibly and is supportive of the UK’s alcohol advertising rules – some of the toughest in Europe. 

Nine out of ten adults drink but advertisers share the public’s concerns about the extent of alcohol misuse and are fully behind workable solutions to reduce it. That is why the drinks industry itself has drawn up strict rules to make sure adverts do not encourage irresponsible or under-age drinking. 

The UK's leading drinks producers many years ago established the Portman Group, the sole aim of which is to encourage social responsibility issues around alcohol, including the responsible promotion and marketing of alcohol products. Its Drinkaware Trust campaigns and educates to reduce alcohol harm.

For more than three decades, self-regulation has guided advertisers’ campaigns and the system has evolved to reflect changes in social attitudes. For instance, the rules were tightened up considerably in 2005 to reduce further the appeal of alcohol ads to under-age drinkers in both broadcast and non-broadcast advertising. 

Currently there are strict measures in place to prevent adverts targeting under-18s, whether on television or off screen in other media (advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing). If more than 25% of the audience for a non-broadcast alcohol advert is under 18 the ad is not allowed. 

Despite the UK’s stringent regime for alcohol advertising this is yet another area where health lobbyists are pressing for the regulations to be tightened still further. ISBA believes that the very real problem with calls for bans is that they do not work. In fact government and regulators know from their own evidence that they can also have unforeseen consequences.