?ONLINE and CLUELESS?
Responses to an on-line “Alcohol Ads and You” survey by more than 2,300 children and young people in the UK and Wales, show that overall, under 18’s are not fully aware that some forms of ‘below the line’ alcohol promotion are in fact advertising the use of alcohol. For example,
•         Only 48.6% recognised that joining a Facebook group for an alcohol product was marketing alcohol
•         Only 50.4% recognised sponsorship of sports team shirts as alcohol marketing (note: young people who own alcohol merchandise such as T-shirts and baseball caps are 1.5 times more likely to try drinking alcohol than those who don’t)
•         Only 48.3% recognised a festival named after a product as alcohol marketing
•         Only 51% recognised a piece of alcohol product merchandise as alcohol marketing
•         Only 43.4% recognised brand ambassadors (people paid to promote brands at events) as alcohol marketing. 1
 
Big Bucks Being Spent on Booze Branding!
·         $130 million is the annual spend on alcohol industry advertising in Australia…
·         $90 million annual alcohol sponsorship of sport in Australia.2
 
The games being played!
“However, the internal planning documents for the campaign state categorically that “Carling celebrates, initiates and promotes the togetherness of the pack, their passions and their pint because Carling understands that things are better together”.
They go on to specify “Three Aspects of ‘Belonging’”…
·         Initiation: Expressions of the moment when an individual joins a group and finds a happy home in the pack – The Moment of Belonging.
·         Celebration: An expression of the sheer joy of belonging – The Joy of Belonging.
·         Contagion: An expression of the magnetic power of the group – The Power of Belonging”.
The documents proceed to emphasise the importance of advertising in getting these themes across: “Broadly speaking each piece of communication will either; celebrate ‘Join Us’, by championing the benefit of togetherness, or facilitate ‘Join Us’, by providing and enhancing experiences where togetherness is key”. 3
 
DRR Alcohol Advertising and Young PDF  

References
1 Overexposed and overlooked: Young people’s views on the regulation of alcohol promotion  Published by Alcohol Concern, 64 Leman Street, London E1 8EU
2  ‘Community Hangover’ Seminars Nathan Hawkins, Director ADRA (Ph D Candidate University Newcastle) AHA Conference Aug 2012
3 Memorandum by Professor Gerard Hastings, Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling & the Open University (AL 81) “They’ll Drink Bucket Loads of the Stuff” An Analysis of Internal Alcohol Industry Advertising Documents pp1-2