Report Examines Alcohol Industry's Online Marketing Efforts
A new report released Tuesday claims alcohol beverage companies are using new technologies such as social media, mobile phone applications and online videos to target youth.
The report, conducted by the Center for Digital Democracy and the Berkeley Media Studies Group, highlights several examples to try to prove its case that firms are targeting youth by using the communication tools they use most. For example, the report begins by examining beer maker Heineken's efforts to boost its brand among Puerto Rican youth. It created a virtual online luxury development where "the price to acquire a piece of this property wasn't cash--it was attention, time, and engagement with the brand." Users could receive real-world welcome kits where the "keys" to their virtual world also served as bottle openers. The campaign also offered a free e-mail service with a Heineken-related Internet address known as "heicity.com."
Another example highlighted in the report was a free iPhone app offered by Malibu rum that allows users to bowl in a rum shack or on the beach using virtual Malibu bottles as pins.
While the report provides several examples of the beer and alcohol industry's online media marketing efforts, it does not provide any examples of how these campaigns specifically target underage users. Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester, who helped author the report, acknowledged this point but added that the report is aimed at providing a "wake-up call" for the FTC, health professionals and the industry "to tread carefully in how they use this arsenal of powerful online marketing tools."
The report notes that beer and alcohol companies adhere to a self-regulatory regime that bars marketing to those under the drinking age. "Age verification is one of the principal methods for shielding under-age youth from alcohol advertising in the online media," according to the report. "But in the new digital environment, such mechanisms are not only inadequate but increasingly irrelevant."
The Beer Institute, an industry trade group, said in a statement that beer companies "are adamantly opposed to illegal underage drinking and alcohol abuse. Our members direct their advertising to adults of legal drinking age in accordance with the Beer Institute's Advertising and Marketing Code," which requires that ads be placed in outlets where at least 70 percent of the audience is expected to be 21 and older. It also noted that it has spent nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars "promoting responsibility and fighting underage drinking."
"Independent sources, such as the Roper Youth Report, have consistently shown over the past decade that parents, not advertising, are the greatest influence on children's decisions about drinking," added the institute.
Distilled Spirits Council Vice President Lisa Hawkins said in a statement that "distilled spirits companies adhere to a rigorous set of content and placement guidelines for advertising and marketing materials in all media including online and digital communications channels. The spirits industry's longstanding commitment to responsible advertising regardless of the medium has been commended by the FTC and industry watchdogs."
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