Alcohol industry CSR in the UK
This overview refers to alcohol-industry-funded youth education projects and interventions in UK schools, delivered directly or via industry-funded charities and organisations, aimed at students, teachers, and – in some cases – parents. The focus is on corporate social responsibility (CSR) framing and “responsible drinking” messaging.
1. The UK Government’s policy framework
Statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSE) guidance (Department for Education): This is the reference framework within which schools decide what health-education materials, speakers, or organisations to use. This is not an industry programme, but it is the institutional framework within which industry-funded CSR initiatives currently operate in England. The Government’s stated position, reiterated in response to a 2025 open letter from a coalition of 58 health experts and organisations, is that the current guidance is adequate: “Schools are responsible for setting their own policies on these subjects, in line with this guidance, and are best placed to decide what materials, speakers or organisations to use based on their knowledge of their pupils and communities.” Public health organisations and academics have argued that this places an unreasonable burden on stretched schools and leaves them exposed to industry exploitation.
2. CSR-projects promoted or supported by the alcohol industry for schools
Drinkaware for Education – Drinkaware is a charity funded by the alcohol industry. It provides lesson plans and resources for primary and secondary pupils, which in the past have included sessions on “alcohol and handling peer pressure” and an “Alcohol Booster” session on pouring standard drinks. Drinkaware withdrew its education materials from its website following publication of independent peer-reviewed analysis of the content, though the materials are likely to still be in circulation.
SMASHED – funded by Diageo, producer of Guinness, Smirnoff, and other leading alcohol brands. An interactive drama and classroom-workshop programme for schools, delivered with a teacher resource pack. Diageo states Smashed is “on track” to reach 600,000 UK pupils and aims to reach ten million young people globally by 2030; the programme is active in over twenty-five countries.
Talk About Alcohol / Talk About Trust (formerly the Alcohol Education Trust, AET) – has previously received funding from alcohol industry-formed or -funded bodies including the Distillers’ Charity and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (itself funded by Diageo and Chivas Brothers/Pernod Ricard). The Distillers’ Charity still lists the Talk About Trust as a principal charity partner. Materials include the online “Body watch” infographic tool. The Trust’s 2023/24 impact report claims over 500,000 children and 2,100 settings used its games, films, activities and lesson plans that year, including activity packs for 18,000+ vulnerable children and children with additional learning needs.
Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAP) – an alcohol industry body active in UK communities, which continues to make use of Talk About Trust materials in its work.
3. Criticism from health organisations and researchers
3.1. Independent peer-reviewed research
A peer-reviewed study analysed the content of youth education materials provided by three UK alcohol industry-linked programmes: Drinkaware for Education, SMASHED, and Talk About Alcohol. The research found that these materials selectively omitted key health facts – for example, listing some alcohol-related cancers (mouth and throat) while omitting others despite strong evidence linking alcohol to at least seven cancer types, including two of the most common, breast and bowel cancer. The Talk About Trust’s “Body watch” tool was found to omit cardiovascular disease risk (referring only to “irregular heartbeats”) and to depict only a male body, omitting female breast cancer risk. Materials from Drinkaware and AET also framed peer pressure as the primary driver of underage drinking while omitting the influence of alcohol advertising and marketing, and normalised alcohol as an ordinary consumer product through activities on fermentation, distillation, and how to pour a standard drink, accompanied in Drinkaware’s materials by marketing-style imagery of young adults smiling and drinking.
3.2. Parent survey about industry influence in schools
IAS and the Campaign to End Gambling Ads funded and (with Survation) designed a national survey of 1,184 UK parents of secondary-school-aged children (31 March–2 April 2025). Most parents (86%) were concerned about the potential harms of alcohol to children. More than three-quarters (76%) agreed the Government should act to prevent alcohol industry influence on youth education, compared with 15% opposed. This aligns with wider polling showing 72% of the public want restrictions to stop children seeing alcohol adverts and 65% want restrictions on alcohol marketing and promotion. In August 2025, a coalition of 58 health experts, charities, and other organisations – coordinated by IAS – sent an open letter to the UK’s Education Secretary calling for the Department for Education to follow Ireland’s lead and prohibit alcohol industry-funded materials in schools. The Department responded that no further action was required.
3.3. Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence – Freedom of Information findings
In late 2025, the Centre submitted Freedom of Information requests to 880 schools across Yorkshire and Humber, asking whether resources linked to (among other industries) the alcohol sector had been used in the previous three years, including Community Alcohol Partnerships, Drinkaware for Education materials, Diageo’s SMASHED programme, and Talk About Alcohol/Talk About Trust sessions. Of 173 responding schools and academy trusts, alcohol industry-linked resources were found in 26 schools – Drinkaware materials the most common (17 schools), followed by Talk About Alcohol/Talk About Trust (16 schools) and SMASHED (10 schools). The majority of responding schools (83 of 124) had no policy for reviewing or approving external health-education materials. Even where a review process, conflict-of-interest policy, or visiting-speaker policy existed, this offered limited protection: 14 of 24 schools with a review process, and 13 of 19 schools with a formal conflict-of-interest or visiting-speaker policy, still reported using at least one industry-linked resource.
3.4. International comparison: Ireland
In 2022, Ireland’s Department of Education and Department of Health co-issued guidance stating that it is not appropriate for schools to use resources or materials produced or funded by the alcohol industry, or for teachers to attend industry-funded training, describing this as “a distinct conflict of interest” with “no place for the alcohol industry in schools.” The report cites this, together with WHO and UNESCO standards for health-promoting schools, as a model the UK Government has so far declined to follow.
4. References and links
van Schalkwyk MCI, et al. Distilling the curriculum: An analysis of alcohol industry-funded school-based youth education programmes. PLoS One 2022;17(1):e0259560.
BMJ investigation on Drinkaware materials and CMO guidance
IAS: Open letter to the Education Secretary (2025)
Community Alcohol Partnerships Annual Report 2024–2025
The Distillers’ Charity, supported charities