Marketing - Written by William Hobson on Thursday, January 21, 2010 10:31 - 0 Comments
BMJ: Carling and WKD ads target underage drinkers
A new report in the British Medical Journal has criticised alcohol companies for manipulating advertising rules to target the under-aged.
In the latest development in a topic at the front of UK marketing news, the report in the BMJ criticises brands like Carling and WKD for cynically manipulating the advertising industry’s self-regulatory rules to target underage drinkers. The report cites “previously unseen” internal documents from the ad industry to back its statements.
These documents include client briefs from Alcohol companies to advertising agencies, market research reports and media schedules. The BMJ claims that its analysis of these documents showed companies were “pushing the boundaries” of the self-regulatory code in attempts to establish brand loyalty among young drinkers.
Among the claims made in the report are that the BMJ found market research data on 15 and 16 year olds and references to the need recruit new drinkers in the documents. For example, a document regarding alco-pop brand WKD allegedly stated the need to attract “new 18-year olds” to the brand. The BMJ’s main criticisms are that alcohol brands are attempting to market themselves as integral to social success or masculinity, which would be banned under the advertising code. The authors argue that both Carling and WKD have breached these rules by intentionally running campaigns based on pushing “maleness and personality” or describing their products as “social glue”.
The Guardian reports that the BMJ report was spearheaded by Professor Gerard Hastings, one of those who worked on the previous Health Committee Report into binge and underage drinking, published in December. This has dominated UK marketing news headlines and discussion for the past month, due to recommendations such as a call for a 9pm watershed on alcohol adverts on TV.
Members of the advertising industry have criticised both reports, though the BMJ report has been most vehemently questioned.
The Guardian reports that David Poley, the chief executive of the alcohol industry body The Portman Group, said that Hastings had “failed to find any evidence of actual malpractice [and] therefore resorts to slurs and innuendos”.
Mike Hughes, the director of the industry led UK advertising body ISBA, said that Professor Hastings has distorted the facts “to support his own public agenda”, and that there was an “efficient system of self-regulation within the companies to which he refers”
Related posts: