Three general conclusions are derived from the evidence presented in this paper.

First, some of the industry’s promotional activities, combined with product innovations, have the potential to increase not only the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption but also the likelihood of impaired driving.
Second, some of the alcohol industry’s corporate political activities are used to oppose effective alcohol policies whereas others are used to improve the public image of the producers as good corporate citizens
Third, based on current scientific research, neither of these activities is likely to reduce the incidence of alcohol-impaired driving because most of the policies and programs favored by the alcohol industry are ineffective.

The findings reinforce recent concerns expressed by NGOs, the scientific community, and international health agencies in relation to the alcohol industry’s road traffic safety initiatives.

Author

Thomas F. Babor, Katherine Robaina, and Jonathan Noel

Citation

Appendix C: The Role of the Alcohol Industry in Policy Interventions for Alcohol-Impaired Driving - Thomas F. Babor, Katherine Robaina, and Jonathan Noel ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities: A Comprehensive Approach to a Persistent Problem. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24951.

Source
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Release date
17/01/2018

The Role of the Alcohol Industry in Policy Interventions for Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Executive Summary

Introduction

Through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, the alcoholic beverage industry has become increasingly active in the support, analysis, and promotion of alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures and policies, especially in relation to road traffic safety. The involvement of the alcohol industry in these initiatives has been questioned by some organizations and individuals in the public health community, as well as others involved in road traffic safety. In light of these concerns, the objectives of this paper are to,

  1. describe the structure and concentration of the alcohol industry in the United States and internationally;
  2. review commercial and political activities of the alcohol industry that may influence alcohol-related harms, particularly in the area of alcohol-impaired driving; and
  3. evaluate alcohol-impaired driving initiatives advanced by the alcohol industry from a public health perspective.

In the final section, we consider the implications of the findings for public health professionals, road traffic safety advocates, the alcohol industry, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, and other interested individuals.

Methods

The information presented in this paper was compiled using two methods: (1) a narrative review of the relevant literature and (2) a content analysis of industry activities related to alcohol-impaired driving. The source materials for the narrative review consisted of industry documents, organizational websites, annual reports, industry trade journals, and an extensive search of the world scientific literature including articles, reviews, editorials, commentaries, newspaper articles, books, book chapters, and unpublished documents. The analysis of industry activities was based on a systematic evaluation of 97 “industry actions” that were conducted by alcohol producers and related organizations in support of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) 2010 Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol.

Findings

Global Concentration

  • The global concentration of the alcohol industry into a small number of transnational alcohol corporations has increased the industry’s capacity to act individually and in concert in order to influence alcohol policy at the national, regional, and local levels.
  • Market expansion by transnational producers of alcoholic beverages is likely to result in increased alcohol availability, which in turn can impact alcohol consumption and the prevalence of alcohol-related health consequences, including traffic injuries and fatalities.

Commercial Activities

  • Evidence suggests that some of the alcohol industry’s commercial activities have the potential to not only increase the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption, but also the likelihood of alcohol-impaired driving.
  • The alcohol industry’s marketing and product design activities contribute to the ongoing recruitment of young people, women, and other vulnerable populations, and may increase alcohol consumption through the promotion of more frequent alcohol use occasions. Evidence suggests that the relationship between the alcohol industry and the energy drink industry is mutually beneficial, despite the significant risks associated with alcohol mixed with energy drinks, such as increased alcohol consumption and related harms.
  • Through industry trade associations and self-regulatory alcohol marketing codes, U.S. alcohol producers have pledged not to promote alcohol-impaired driving and to avoid associating driving with alcoholic beverages in their marketing activities. Associating alcoholic beverages with race car driving is likely in violation of these pledges as well as the industry’s own self-regulatory advertising codes because the brand is being identified with a sport that displays vehicles driving in a manner that would be deemed unsafe and illegal if it occurred on a public road.

Corporate Political Activities

Corporate political activities are conducted in many parts of the alcohol industry to create a favorable regulatory environment. The main political strategies are

  • Using information and other means to gain access to political decision makers;
  • Indirect targeting of political decision makers through constituent support;
  • Promoting alternative policies or voluntary measures (policy substitution);
  • Providing financial incentives to influence government policy makers; and
  • Employing legal preemption, litigation, or circumvention.

Each strategy includes a variety of tactics, and many of these tactics are carried out under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility.

In most cases, it is difficult to establish a direct link to alcohol policies that either reduce or increase alcohol-impaired driving and alcohol-related traffic injuries, but there is considerable circumstantial evidence that some of these activities are detrimental to public health and traffic safety, and that many others serve to dilute the public health response.

In many instances, the industry has built partnerships or is involved in collaborations with government agencies and civil society organizations with the aim of developing alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures. There is little evidence that they achieve their intended aims, and in some cases they have been criticized because of industry domination of the committee process and failure to consider effective policies.

Content Analysis of Industry Actions

A content analysis of 97 industry actions conducted in support of the WHO’s Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol provides strong evidence that the alcohol industry does not fund or support public health policies that have been shown to prevent alcohol-impaired driving and reduce alcohol-related harm. Nearly all (97.9 percent) of the alcohol industry’s U.S. alcohol-impaired driving initiatives were rated as either ineffective or of unknown effectiveness.

Conclusions

Three general conclusions are derived from the evidence presented in this paper.

  1. First, some of the industry’s promotional activities, combined with product innovations, have the potential to increase not only the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption but also the likelihood of impaired driving.
  2. Second, some of the alcohol industry’s corporate political activities are used to oppose effective alcohol policies whereas others are used to improve the public image of the producers as good corporate citizens.
  3. Third, based on current scientific research, neither of these activities is likely to reduce the incidence of alcohol-impaired driving because most of the policies and programs favored by the alcohol industry are ineffective.

The findings reinforce recent concerns expressed by NGOs, the scientific community, and international health agencies in relation to the alcohol industry’s road traffic safety initiatives.

Recommendations

The authors close with a set of recommendations regarding the role of the alcohol industry in the development of policy aimed at reducing alcohol-impaired driving and its negative consequences.

  • The alcohol industry has the capacity and the responsibility to minimize the harm caused by its products at all stages of the production chain, especially in terms of product design and marketing.
  • In setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to alcohol control, federal and state agencies as well as civil society organizations need to protect the integrity of these policies from commercial and other vested interests.
  • In the absence of clear evidence that the industry is fulfilling its responsibilities, civil society organizations and professional groups should not enter into partnerships with the commercial alcohol industry, its community outreach public relations organizations, and other groups substantially funded by the commercial alcohol industry.
  • Research on alcohol-impaired driving should be funded only by sources that are independent of commercial and other vested interests.

Source Website: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine