6% of the views of adult-orientated YouTube content are by 13 to 17 year olds, concludes digital marketing agency AccuraCast.com. This means that when an alcohol commercial has had 10 million views on YouTube, on average 60.000 children under the age of 17 have seen it. Farhad Divecha, MD of AccuraCast said: “YouTube alcohol uploads … Read More →
Last week AB Inbev, the company behind such brands as Jupiler, Stella Artois, Budweiser and Beck’s, announced plans for their new Facebook initiative called Family Talk, intended to support parents seeking to educate their children about responsible drinking. The initiative kicked off in the UK but will also be launched in Germany, France and the … Read More →
Research by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University suggests that the use of social media by teenagers increases their substance abuse. The report, based on findings from the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse also concluded that on a typical day, more than half of the teens using … Read More →
This week representatives from the 53 WHO European Region Member States adopted the WHO’s European Action Plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. However, it seems that commercial interests have precedence over health protection, as the final version of the plan has become considerably more industry-friendly, compared to earlier drafts. The most notable change … Read More →
This week spirits producer Diageo (Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Baileys and Guinness amongst other brands) announced a multimillion-dollar deal with social network website Facebook. Diageo is confident this will boost their sales but health experts warn that the impact of this deal will be mainly felt in teenage drinking. In their press release, Diageo states that … Read More →
The industry funded institution Drinkaware has re-launched its ‘Why let good times go bad?’-campaign to address unhealthy drinking behaviors amongst the UK’s young adults. After cuts to the campaigning budget of the Department of Health, the campaign by Drinkaware is the only national alcohol awareness campaign. It quickly becomes apparent that this is an initiative … Read More →
A new report by Camy (the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth), based on research by Johns Hopkins University, concludes that alcohol producers frequently don’t adhere to their own voluntary rules concerning the exposure of children to radio advertisements. This rule entails that alcohol advertisements may not be broadcasted to an audience, which consists for … Read More →
Recent research by the New Zealand Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee has shown that more than one young New Zealander under 25 is dying every week from alcohol-related causes. In reaction to these figures the committee urges parliament to ban alcohol advertising and sponsorship links with sports, among other things. The Child and … Read More →
The Dutch municipality of Nijkerk wants to tighten their anti-alcohol policy. Points of sale need to be put under closer scrutiny and alcohol advertisements are to be further restricted. The proposed plans contain such measures as prohibiting any alcohol advertisement that gives more than factual brand information and is only allowed at specific points of … Read More →
A new study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, concludes that alcohol imagery should be given greater consideration in determining the suitability of films for viewing by children and young people. This conclusion, follows from a comprehensive analysis of 300 of the most popular UK films of the last two decades. The study … Read More →