The Marin Institutes blog recently described a prime example of the failure of the self-regulatory system. The Institute had gotten a complaint of a concerned parent who reported the placing of a billboard from tequilla producer Jose Cuervo opposite her son’s middle school. When the Marin Institute contacted the Distilled Spirits Council of the United … Read More →

A new survey, conducted by market researcher TNS-Sifo for IOGT-NTO, shows that 8 out of 10 Swedes support the Swedish ban on televised alcohol advertisements. Despite this public support, a number of TV channels continuously circumvent the ban by broadcasting from abroad.  The survey, held in May of 2011 shows that 80 percent of the … Read More →

Researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil have recently published an article which shows that industry self-regulation does not work. The researchers have analyzed all the scientific research that was published on this subject between 1991 and 2010, they have published their findings in the Brazilian Journal for Psychiatry (Revista Brasileira de … Read More →

Marketing efforts of alcohol producers are often aimed at younger drinkers and lead to hazardous drinking behavior and health damage. This was the consensus of five experts at a panel discussion on ‘Alcohol, Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases and Public Health’ held on the second of May at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The discussion focused … Read More →

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has vowed that within a year a minimum price for alcohol will be introduced into the legislation. The party even went so far as to call it the ‘key priority’ of its second term in office. During the last administration the plan was blocked by opposition parties, but the nationalists … Read More →

In their never ending search for new target demographics, spirits producers seem to have followed in the footsteps of beer producers, by associating the drinking of their products with weight loss. Marin institute claims that especially young females are approached by this new form of marketing. The spearhead of this new trend is a new … Read More →

In the most recent edition of Addiction, the peer reviewed journal of the Society for the Study of Addiction to Alcohol and other Drugs, Sally Casswell calls for a comprehensive and well funded global response to the activities of transnational alcohol producers. Casswell, Director of The SHORE and Whariki Research Centre at Massey University in … Read More →

During last months Global Advertiser Week hosted in Bejing it was announced that advertising in China will soon be regulated through self-regulation by the advertising industry. A jubilating announcement was made by the industry financed International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) which stated that the new code will call for: ‘All brand communications to be … Read More →

Late last year South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced the possibility of a ban on alcohol advertisements. This sparked a lively debate between proponents and opponents, in which a central subject was who would be hit by such a measure, drinkers, drinks producers, marketing companies or the South African economy as a whole. This … Read More →