It is a curious thing that one
of the most beneficial things we can do to boost our health, making friends and
socialising, is turned into a potentially very destructive and dangerous
pastime by the alcohol industry. At the very time when teenagers and young
adults are reaching out to new people and new ways of engaging with the world,
they are bombarded by propaganda and political decisions that inform them that
the only way to connect with others is through the use of alcohol, a lot of
alcohol.
In 2009 the UK House of
Commons Health Select Committee obtained internal marketing documents from Alcohol
producers and their advertising agencies. This data was summarised and analysed
by Professor Gerard Hastings in his memorandum ‘They’ll drink bucket loads of
the stuff’.
This analysis showed that the
critical age group for the Alcohol Industry is mid-teens to early twenties, and
the main target group is young students: the intention being to create lifelong
habits of high alcohol consumption. One example is Lambrini, whose own research
acknowledges that as its brand is aimed at young drinkers it needs to keep recruiting
new young drinkers: ‘Girls grow out of Lambrini… We could maybe hold
onto them a year or two longer …but we should not think about an older
demographic per se’ Similarly WKD’s internal analysis talks of the
‘opportunity’ of ‘new 18year olds!’
WKD’s marketing also talks of the need to ‘talk
at the level of the target audience – young people”. “Funny is the most
important thing… not take itself too seriously, fresh, witty, a funny brand
that doesn’t take itself too seriously.’
Getting students to drink excessively is also an
important strategy. An internal Sidekick discussion openly recognised that
shots be used “ to crank up the evening,
accelerate the process of getting drunk with less volume of liquid” This
discussion also talked of the “sense of
danger”, “macho competitiveness”
and games based around “how much can you
take?”
An important part of this grooming of teenagers and
young adults is the use of social media, websites and emails. Again many of
those targeted were under the legal drinking age, in the case of Smirnoff
almost three quarters of its UK Facebook contacts in 2009 where underage. That
websites can be easily be accessed by the underage viewers giving a false date
of birth, was dismissed by a WKD representative as children making a ‘wilful choice to lie’.
In the UK as in Ireland sponsorship is recognised
as an important way of creating positive attitudes towards a brand, whether
this be sports, festivals or gigs. A Carling explained its sponsorship of music
thus: Ultimately, the band are the heroes
at the venue and Carling should use them to ‘piggy back’ and engage customers’
emotions”.
While ‘They’ll drink bucket loads of the stuff’
deals with the UK, it is easy to spot the same tactics operating in Ireland,
and far worse. In future blogs I will be looking at Alcohol Industry
strategies in Ireland. Stay tuned in!
Previous article: Lies,
damn lies and advertising. Part 1: Shifting the blame.
Next article: Lies, damn lies and advertising. Part 3: Staying informed.
Next article: Lies, damn lies and advertising. Part 3: Staying informed.
Useful website: Alcohol Action Ireland
* * *
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