What’s at Stake and Why Big Alcohol Should Not Get Away With Lying At the UN
In preparation of the fourth High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health, the President of the UN General Assembly convened an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing on May 2, 2025 at the United Nations in New York.
For Movendi International and our members I was there to participate. Several of our members and myself got called on to deliver statements. For me it is always a special moment to address the United Nations. In our statement, I outlined the vision of a world where every person can live a healthy, empowered life – free from preventable harm. At the heart of this vision lies a commitment to health equity, social justice, and the dignity of all people.
I also needed to explain why this vision is under threat.
A world where healthy people lives dignified lives in just and sustainable societies is under threat and attack by the alcohol industry.
For example, alcohol-related cancers are rising globally. And at least 7% of the global adult population suffer from alcohol use disorder. At the same time, countries’ uptake of the alcohol policy Best Buys has not kept pace with rising alcohol harm.
This crisis is not accidental. It is the result of deliberate practices by the alcohol industry.
Alcohol companies are targeting youth and women with aggressive alcohol marketing. Big Alcohol is derailing evidence-based alcohol policy initiatives with relentless lobbying and political interference. These are just two of the predatory strategies that clearly show that the alcohol industry’s profit interests stand in direct conflict with our shared goals and vision of health for all. This conflict of interest is fundamental – as we in Movendi International are documenting and exposing on a daily basis.
- Alcohol companies profit from minors consuming their products.
- They depend on heavy alcohol consumption for most of their profits.
- They harvest online data to target the most vulnerable with insidious marketing, especially young people and people seeking mental health help.
In my statement on behalf of Movendi International and our members, I called for the 2025 Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on NCDs to be a turning point.
Just a few minutes later and to my surprise, the alcohol industry would take the floor and with their statement provide proof of what we had spoken about.
Exposing Big Alcohol’s Lies at the UN
The International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) is the global front group for the world’s largest beer, wine, and liquor producers.
The IARD abused the UN platform to distort reality and spread lies. They made a series of claims that demand rigorous scrutiny and public attention.
The alcohol industry has no role to play in public health policy and they should not have been allowed to participate in the meeting, let alone speak. Their statement delivered proof as it had the full Big Alcohol interference playbook on display.
They promoted a corporate narrative that undermines science, misleads policymakers, and protects the alcohol industry’s profits at the expense of people’s health.
This column unpacks the IARD’s most problematic statements and contrasts them with the evidence.
Claim 1: Alcohol harm is declining – so there’s no need for urgency?
This claim is selective and deceptive.
The WHO 2024 report shows a global 20.2% decrease in age-adjusted alcohol-attributable deaths per 100,000 people from 2010 to 2019 .
But that’s only part of the picture.
The absolute number of alcohol-attributable deaths globally decreased by just 2.5%, from 2.7 million in 2010 to 2.6 million in 2019. Crucially, alcohol use among women, youth, and in low- and middle-income countries is rising. And the heaviest burden is shifting to regions least able to cope.
- Alcohol use trends: The burden of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) increased in the African, Eastern Mediterranean, and South-East Asia regions from 2010 to 2019, while it declined in high-income regions such as the Americas and Europe.
- Heaviest burden shifting: The highest alcohol-attributable mortality and disease burden per litre consumed is now in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where health systems are least equipped to manage it.
- Cancer deaths due to alcohol are increasing.
- Alcohol remains the leading risk factor for death and disease among 15- to 49-year-olds globally.
Far from “progress,” the WHO identifies alcohol as an urgent public health priority with accelerated action needed. Moreover, the WHO warns that without major policy changes, the global target of a 10% reduction in population-level alcohol use by 2030 will not be met – and consumption is projected to rise instead.
Claim 2: Industry partnerships are “working” to reduce harm?
The opposite is true.
Collaboration with alcohol corporations leads to MORE harm, as studies show.
Importantly, WHO documents that alcohol industry interference is one of the biggest obstacles to policy progress. In fact, 2 in 5 countries reported industry interference as a major barrier to implementing effective alcohol policy .
The industry’s core profit model depends on heavy consumption: in some countries, 60% or more of sales come from heavy alcohol consumption occasions – as we have documented in our recent Big Alcohol Exposed 2024 report. Research shows that heavy alcohol consumption occasions account for up to two-thirds of alcohol industry sales in middle-income countries.
Claim 3: Youth alcohol use is declining globally?
The IARD claims that underage alcohol use has “decreased or stabilised in three-quarters of countries with available data.” But this cherry-picks global trends to obscure worsening situations elsewhere – and a really bad situation overall, despite some positive trends.
It is a well-known part of the Big Alcohol playbook to exploit positive trends in the younger generations staying alcohol-free longer and if they consume alcohol, consuming much less than previous generations.
But this is a smokescreen to hide regional and global crises.
In the beginning of April, Big Alcohol Exposed addressed an IARD report about the same topic.
The WHO Global Alcohol Status Report shows that among people aged 15-19-years-old, the estimated prevalence of past-year alcohol use in the South-East Asian Region and the Western Pacific Region increased by 22% and 26% respectively between 2000 to 2019.
In April 2024, Movendi International reported about a WHO/Europe report that showed a concerning picture of adolescent alcohol use emerging across Europe, central Asia and Canada. The report shows that alcohol is the most commonly used harmful, psychoactive substance among adolescents and in many countries girls now consume more alcohol than boys. With over half of 15-year-olds surveyed having consumed alcohol, the risks to young people are enormous.
The data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study also highlighted the narrowing gender gap in alcohol use. The report underlined the significant long-term consequences of these trends and the importance of policy-makers taking action in response to these alarming findings, emphasizing the need for prevention strategies, such as raising alcohol excise taxes and alcohol age limits.
But these alcohol policy solutions are a threat to the profits of the alcohol giants behind the IARD.
Why the IARD Exploits Decline in Youth Alcohol Use
The IARD is the front group for some of the alcohol industry’s largest and most powerful beer, wine, and liquor producers: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Bacardi Limited, Brown-Forman Corporation, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, Molson Coors, Pernod Ricard, Suntory Global Spirits and William Grant & Sons.
The alcohol industry front group is trying to frame the decade-long decline in youth alcohol use as the result of “collective efforts” that include industry action. This is deliberately misleading.
Decades of data show that youth alcohol use has been falling across most high-income countries since the early 2000s – despite relentless alcohol marketing.
A 2022 BMC Public Health study explored how young people themselves explain the sharp decline in youth alcohol use. Their answers point to a mix of cultural and social shifts:
- greater awareness of health risks,
- stronger parental oversight,
- fear of losing control, and
- a preference for online socializing over traditional party scenes.
Corporate “responsibility” campaigns have not contributed anything to this shift.
Meanwhile, research shows that nearly 9% of alcohol industry revenue in the US comes from underage consumption – amounting to around $10 billion annually. Globally, this proportion might be even higher in countries with weaker regulatory systems.
These profits aren’t accidental; they are part of a business model that relies on early brand exposure and the recruitment of lifelong consumers starting at a young age.
The industry’s public stance against underage alcohol use is fundamentally at odds with its economic interests. While IARD members issue statements about “responsibility,” their actions – from lobbying against marketing regulations to sponsoring youth-oriented sports and entertainment – expose the truth.
IARD Deception: Positive Development Masks Concerning Trends
The HSBC data shows that alcohol is by far the most commonly used harmful substance among adolescents. More than half (57%) of 15-year-olds have tried alcohol at least once (56% of boys and 59% of girls), and nearly 40% reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days (36% of boys and 38% of girls).
While there is a positive trend that younger generations stay alcohol-free longer and consume less alcohol compared to previous generations, the levels of alcohol consumption and the age of initiation and onset into alcohol consumption are still at alarming levels.
Roughly 1 in 10 (9%) adolescents across all age groups have experienced significant alcohol inebriation – being under heavy influence of alcohol at least twice – in their lifetime.
This rate of alcohol inebriation climbs alarmingly from 5% of adolescents at age 13 to 20% by age 15, demonstrating an escalating trend in high-risk alcohol use among youth.
Furthermore, recent patterns reveal that the incidence of alcohol inebriation within the past 30 days also increases with age, jumping from 5% among 13-year-olds to an alarming 15% among 15-year-olds, highlighting an urgent need for targeted intervention strategies to curb this growing issue of underage alcohol use.
Narrowing gender gap
The disparity in substance use between genders is rapidly closing, with girls equalling or surpassing boys in rates of alcohol consumption by the age of 15. Of particular concern is evidence that alcohol use may be increasing again among girls in some countries and regions.
Research shows that young people are very sensitive to alcohol because their brains are still developing, increasing the risk to develop alcohol use disorder and addiction, as well as other chronic health conditions over the life course. The consequences are costly for adolescents, youth, and society as a whole, and can lead to physical and mental illness, educational underachievement and diminished life chances in adulthood.
While the decline in under-age alcohol use is positive in many ways, the levels, patterns, and initiation of alcohol use among children and youth are still at alarming levels. This is compounded by worrying trends of rising alcohol use in under-age girls.
But the IARD claim is a thinly veiled attempt at distracting from these problems and deceiving about the extent of the problem to avoid policy action from governments and law makers. At the same time, the Big Alcohol corporations funding the IARD make major profits from minors’ alcohol consumption: In the U.S. alone, alcohol giants made $17.5 billion in one year from youth under 21.
Claim 4: Industry-led marketing safeguards are effective?
This is willful deception.
Independent research and global monitoring paint a starkly different picture. Big Alcohol is exploiting digital loopholes to target youth with precision. In 2024 alone:
- Children were exposed to alcohol ads during family TV shows on streaming platforms in Australia .
- Diageo partnered with Squid Game, a show with known underage viewership .
- Companies used apps like Dusk to collect personal data from young people in exchange for alcohol.
- Big Alcohol partnered with the Olympic Games for the first time to use sports and athletes to promote beer – exposing millions of teens to alcohol advertising.
- A US study revealed that more than half of the U.S. adolescents reported being exposed to alcohol marketing.
- A study from New Zealand exposed that nearly three-quarters of children and youth between the ages of 14 and 20 reported seeing marketing on at least one social media platform.
An expose from Australia reveals the blatant lies of the IARD in their fourth claim:
Young people in Australia are exposed to over 40,000 alcohol ads per year on social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, alone, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation.
Popular social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram provide alcohol companies with new, cheaper ways to promote alcohol to young people.
The situation reveals that the voluntary and self-regulatory codes of the alcohol industry are not working, they are not protecting children and youth from exposure to alcohol marketing, and they are deliberately being violated by alcohol companies themselves.
For example, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) discovered dozens of industry violations of their own codes.
FARE found content that:
- contained images of under 25-year-olds consuming alcohol,
- celebrated binge alcohol consumption, and
- implied alcohol is connected to social success.
Alcohol companies target ads to young people on Facebook
The alcohol industry also harvests young people’s data to make more targeted and personalised online alcohol ads which are ‘dark’, or only visible to the user, and fleeting.
Facebook, for example, uses algorithms to assign more alcohol ads to children who show an interest in this content.
According to FARE, 93% of 16 to 17-year-olds have seen alcohol ads on Facebook.
In an open letter signed by over 40 concerned organisations, civil society and communities are calling for government action to protect children and youth from Big Alcohol.
How do alcohol companies use social media to advertise?
Companies use social media to advertise to more people in a variety of ways. These include:
- Reach: social media ads can reach more people than traditional media advertising – a 600% return on investment.
- Sponsored ads: these ads ‘pop up’ in newsfeeds or stories, advertising specific alcoholic products or bottle shop promotions.
- Personal data: social media users’ data is collected and used to push ads towards people who look up alcohol content. These ads often encourage impulse buying.
- Engaging fans: alcohol brands create official social profiles to encourage ‘fans’ to engage with their posts through questions/polls, posting photos and memes, hosting competitions, and sharing videos. This content is highly interactive and easily shared. In many posts, both page admins and ‘fans’ post content that breaches the advertising code.
- Influencers: alcohol companies pay social media influencers to upload photos or videos of themselves with alcoholic drinks. Popular Australian Instagram influencers have been found to show alcoholic drinks in their posts without revealing that the alcohol brand was actually paying them to do so. By using these influencers, alcohol companies bypass codes and can advertise directly to their young followers.
- User-generated content: companies encourage social media users to upload content of themselves consuming their alcohol products. This approach is highly attractive to the industry as it isn’t recognised as a breach of advertising rules.
This evidence illustrates the severity of the IARD lie as they attempt to disguise the predatory marketing practices of the companies that fund the IARD.
Claim 5: Billions of alcohol products now feature health warnings and age reminders?
This is another distraction from the truth.
The industry lobbies against people getting real information through effective labeling – especially cancer warnings. WHO has shown that labels are a powerful tool to raise awareness of risks linked to alcohol consumption and to denormalize an addictive and carcinogenic product.
But alcohol companies are relentlessly lobbying against such labels and even shut down scientific trials of cancer warning labels in Canada.
The so-called warnings promoted by IARD are vague and inconsistent, designed for PR rather than public health.
Claim 6: Industry-led standards are safeguarding online sales?
This is another serious lie.
Alcohol online sales are largely unregulated. Because self-regulation means no regulation – as is the case with alcohol marketing. Despite claims of “age verification at point of sale and delivery,” online alcohol sales remain a Wild West.
Reports from around the world show rampant alcohol delivery to minors, to already intoxicated people, and to unverified buyers. A 2024 exposé showed that alcohol delivery apps fail to verify age or sobriety, and many deliveries occur outside legal hours .
For example, nearly all Australian teenagers (90%) see regular online ads which provide easy access to buy alcohol through the ‘shop now’ button, often without requiring age checks.
In 2023, Colombian on-demand delivery online company Rappi sold liquor to minors, had misleading advertising, and made double charges, the Colombian Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) found and therefore imposed a sanction against the delivery company for more than 1,200 million pesos, about $250,000. Movendi International member organization Red PaPaz (Colombian Association of Fathers and Mothers) had filed the claim before the SIC against Rappi S.A.S (Rappi) in 2019 and won.
There’s a reason WHO does not consider industry-led voluntary action credible: it doesn’t work.
What the IARD Doesn’t Want People to Know
- Big Alcohol profits depend on youth and heavy alcohol consumers: in the U.S., 10% of adults drink more than half of all alcohol consumed. Alcohol sales would drop by 60% if these alcohol consumers lowered their consumption.
- Alcohol causes 7 types of cancer. Already small amounts increase risk.
- There is no safe level of alcohol use. Any suggestion otherwise is misleading and contradicted by WHO and leading researchers.
- The alcohol industry’s corporate social responsibility efforts – such as funding prevention campaigns – are designed to avoid governmental alcohol policy action while enhancing brand loyalty.
The IARD’s performance at the UN hearing was not a contribution to public health. It was a calculated public relations campaign aimed at delaying regulation, shaping policy to protect profits, and co-opting the language of the SDGs and human rights.
The evidence is overwhelming: the alcohol industry’s interests fundamentally conflict with the goals of the UN, the WHO, and public health worldwide.
It’s time for governments and global institutions to stop legitimizing industry front groups like IARD. True progress will come from implementing WHO-recommended alcohol policies—raising taxes, limiting availability, banning marketing—and removing industry influence from the policy arena.
Anything less is complicity in the global burden of alcohol harm.
The IARD’s presence at the UN hearing was not about solving the NCDs crisis. It was about shaping a narrative that lets alcohol companies off the hook while appearing cooperative. Their track record shows consistent opposition to effective and WHO-recommended policy solutions, targeting of vulnerable populations, and use of misinformation to delay and derail lives saving policy action.
The fundamental conflict of interest between the alcohol industry’s profit greed and public health objectives must be acknowledged. As with Big Tobacco, the solution is not partnership – it is protection: from harm, from deception, and from corporate interference.
