Adopting stronger practices in alcohol marketing

Many countries, including Australia, continue to rely on industry self-regulation despite little evidence of its effectiveness in curbing alcohol marketing.

Hannah Pierce believes that a well-planned advocacy approach is key to encouraging governments to implement effective regulatory frameworks.

“Community engagement, media advocacy and communication with policymakers to highlight concerns regarding industry self-regulation are key advocacy strategies that can encourage independent regulation of alcohol marketing,” said Ms Pierce.

Hannah Pierce is an Information and Research officer at McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth (MCCAY), an organisation dedicated to reducing harmful drinking and alcohol-related harm among young people.

In her Global Alcohol Policy Conference (GAPC) presentation, Advocating for effective alcohol marketing regulation via an alternative complaint review process, Ms Pierce discussed Australia’s industry self-regulation and how an alternative system can help encourage change.

“This approach provides opportunities to demonstrate community concern, present information in innovative ways and maintain regular contact with policymakers to promote continued interest in the issue,” said Ms Pierce.

Ms Pierce believes that this innovative approach has had a significant impact with some Australian state governments moving towards stronger regulations.

In this short video, filmed at GAPC 2017 in Melbourne, Ms Pierce highlights the need for other countries to also adopt processes that encourage stronger alcohol marketing regulations.