Corporate Social Responsibility projects of the alcohol industry in Europe
This section of the EUCAM website focuses on CSR projects in Europa initiated by the alcohol industry. Based on these projects, the alcohol industry positions itself as an ally of numerous civil society organizations. Below you will find information about CSR projects in Belgium, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland and Spain. Other countries may follow later.
To the layperson, these projects appear to contribute to raising awareness about the risks associated with alcohol consumption. In reality, however, they serve the opposite purpose: improving the alcohol industry’s political and public image while emphasizing the importance of so-called “responsible” drinking. Consequently, CSR projects directly undermine efforts to raise awareness of the health risks linked to alcohol use and to implement effective policy measures—such as banning alcohol marketing, raising prices, and limiting the number of retail outlets. CSR projects normalize alcohol consumption rather than de-normalizing it.
Below are the views on CSR expressed by researchers Nason Maani (University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science), May van Schalkwyk (public health physician and researcher at the University of Edinburgh), and Mark Petticrew (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine).
“There is now an established body of evidence that the alcohol industry seeks to obstruct public health policies that could affect the availability, affordability or marketing of alcohol. In parallel, the alcohol industry is active in funding corporate social responsibility initiatives, with a particular focus on ‘responsible drinking’ campaigns, often facilitated by national-level charities established and/or funded by the alcohol industry and associated organizations. While evidence continues to grow regarding biases in the content produced by such health information organizations, they remain active in partnerships with government health departments on national health promotion campaigns and provide a range of health-related information to the public, community organizations and schools. To understand the implications of such access for policymakers, researchers and the public, there is a need to consider the wider, system-level influences of such organizations and their place in wider alcohol industry strategies. In our article, we describe evolving evidence of the direct and indirect strategic effects of such organizations and demonstrate how they serve key roles in the alcohol industry through their existence, content, partnerships and public profiles. We end by considering the implications for how we conceptualize charities established or funded (entirely or partly) by harmful commodity industries, and to what extent current conflicts of interest guidelines are sufficiently effective”. Source: Maani, N., M. Ci van Schalkwyk, and M. Petticrew, Under the influence: system-level effects of alcohol industry-funded health information organizations. Health Promotion International, 2023. 38:6. Available here.
CSR projects for young people
The CSR projects in the countries listed below focus primarily on initiatives for young people. Projects targeting other demographic groups will be added later.
Regarding the CSR programs for young people: the aim of these programs is to influence young people’s attitudes toward alcohol before they turn 18. Strong emphasis is placed on personal responsibility, with underage drinking often portrayed as a problem stemming from poor choices and peer pressure. Little to no attention is paid to the long-term health risks associated with alcohol consumption. Much like CSR programs aimed specifically at university students, CSR programs for schools position the alcohol industry as a credible source of prevention. Responsibility for alcohol-related problems is subtly shifted onto the consumer rather than the producer. The product alcohol is not the problem, nor is alcohol advertising, the problem lies in how one handles it.
This concerns CSR projects from the following European countries: