Key Facts and Issues

Evidence around beverage alcohol advertising and drinking patterns is inconclusive.          Advertising has not been shown to increase aggregate consumption by adults or young people.          A causal link has not been established between alcohol advertising and harmful or excessive drinking patterns and resulting problems.          Advertising of beverage alcohol has a measurable effect on market share for particular brands and substitution between brands.          Market trend data suggest that increases in consumption precede increased advertising efforts.   However, due to its potential for harm if misused, the marketing of beverage alcohol requires careful attention.   Particular attention has been paid to the relationship between marketing and alcohol consumption by young people.          Evidence shows that alcohol advertising plays a small role in influencing the decision by young people whether or not to drink.          Parental and peer influences are the most powerful factors in shaping beliefs and attitudes among young people.          There is little correlation between advertising and drinking patterns and rates of abuse among young people.          Drinking is one of a number of risk-taking behaviors by young people.   Self-regulation is an active process in which an industry is responsible for monitoring and enforcing its own conduct around the marketing of its products.          Codes of conduct around marketing have been developed by individual producers of beverage alcohol, trade associations and advertising standards bodies.          Codes include provisions against risky drinking patterns, targeting of minors, implications of enhanced social, physical or sexual ability, as well as other areas.          Effective self-regulation requires: the existence of strict standards; compliance with these standards; a mechanism for applying standards and ensuring compliance; a mechanism for enforcement.   Industry self-regulation can be an effective approach to ensuring the responsible marketing of beverage alcohol.          Where self-regulation is effective, there is less need for government involvement.          Where self-regulation is absent or ineffective, or where it is not sufficiently enforced, government may have a more prominent role to play.  This may be especially true in many developing countries and emerging markets.                                     Self-regulation and government regulation are not mutually exclusive but can be balanced against each other.