Alcohol industry looks at new responsible marketing activity
25 Apr 2008
Alcohol advertisers are looking at the role they can play to help reduce Britain’s harmful drinking culture. They will use their marketing strategies to try to make drunkenness socially unacceptable among young adults.
ISBA, the voice of British advertisers, is helping develop a new industry initiative and attended a Portman Group meeting this week between alcohol advertisers and government officials. The initiative aims to positively influence young adults’ drinking and the meeting also looked at the potential for social marketing to change behaviour.
The meeting coincides with the Portman Group’s publication of a new report, called “Setting the Responsible Drinking Agenda”, available to download here.
ISBA’s Director of Public Affairs Ian Twinn said: “Problem drinking has a real social cost and alcohol advertisers want to play their part in tackling it.
“Binge drinking and alcohol misuse are not in the industry’s interests. They can have a negative impact on the majority of people who drink moderately while at the same time undermining the image of the industry’s premium products.
“The new initiative that we are developing with the drinks producers and with government will team the expertise and creativity of the advertising industry with the social responsibility messages that we all support.
“Our aim is to make inappropriate drunkenness as socially unacceptable as drunk driving.”
