“Alcohol advertising: Accountability not aspirational, but actionable”
Op-ed by Angela Russel, CEO of the Drinks Federation of South Africa in Biz Community:
“The alcohol industry – a sector supplying jobs to half a million people in South Africa and supporting the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more – is sometimes accused of prioritising profit over public health, using flashy campaigns to glamorise drinking and target vulnerable audiences, including young people. …
“However, the reality in South Africa tells a very different story. The alcohol industry association, the Drinks Federation of South Africa (DFSA), has implemented a far-reaching Communications Code of Conduct that governs every aspect of alcohol marketing.
“The Code sets strict standards for how alcohol brands can advertise across all media – from television to radio, from social media to point-of-sale displays, from public events to billboards.
“One of the Code’s most commendable features is its focus on protecting vulnerable populations. There are quite a few examples of this. Alcohol advertisements are restricted to media where at least 70% of the audience is of legal drinking age.”
Assessment
The DFSA’s op-ed promotes its voluntary “Communications Code” as a responsible safeguard, but extensive international research shows that such self-regulatory systems do not work. DFSA represents some of the world’s largest alcohol corporations – AB InBev (SAB), Diageo, Heineken and Pernod Ricard – companies whose profits depend on constant alcohol marketing visibility. This makes the industry’s self-praise particularly concerning at a moment when communities across South Africa are calling for an end to alcohol advertising because of its role in driving alcohol harm.
The scientific evidence is unequivocal. A major body of work led by Jonathan Noel and colleagues shows that industry codes are ineffective in reducing youth exposure to harmful sales promotions: all of the studies detected marketing with strong appeal to children, adolescents or young men. Among 57 studies examining advertising exposure, youth consistently experienced high levels of exposure across television, radio, print, digital platforms and outdoor advertising. Another review demonstrates that the industry’s own complaint processes fail to remove non-compliant material, even when violations are identified. Research from the 2014 FIFA World Cup illustrates this clearly: national and transnational alcohol producers delivered massive, non-compliant marketing exposures during a global event despite existing self-regulation codes.
Taken together, this evidence shows that alcohol industry self-regulation does not meet its stated purpose of protecting vulnerable populations. Rather than engaging with these findings or with rising community demands to end alcohol marketing, DFSA clearly promotes the profit maximization interests of its funders by pushing a system that has been repeatedly proven ineffective.
WHO guidance underscores that “bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion” are effective and needed to prevent and reduce alcohol harm.
In this light, the op-ed aligns with a familiar global pattern in which Big Alcohol uses voluntary codes to continue to push alcohol ads to children, youth, and other vulnerable communities while delaying the adoption of evidence-based, highly effective policies that communities are calling for.