Behind Closed Doors: The Priorities of the Alcohol Industry as Communicated in a Trade Magazine

Abstract

Background: Efforts to reduce alcohol-related harm face strong resistance from the alcohol industry. It is important to monitor industry actions over time to assist in developing appropriate responses to this resistance. Monitoring can enable public health to identify industry positions on alcohol policy issues, stay abreast of current and emerging marketing tactics, and inform the development of possible counter-actions. One form of monitoring is the examination of industry trade publications where the industry converses with itself. The aim of this study was to assess industry strategic approaches as communicated in articles published in a leading Australian alcohol trade magazine to provide insights for policy makers and advocacy groups.Methods: Thematic analysis of 362 articles published in a trade magazine over a one-year period.Results: Three primary themes were evident in the articles: (1) the legitimization of alcohol as an important social and economic product, (2) the portrayal of the industry as trustworthy and benign, and (3) the strategic embedding of alcohol in various facets of everyday life.Conclusions: There was a general failure to acknowledge the substantial burden of disease caused by alcohol products, and instead much effort was expended on legitimizing the product and the companies responsible for its production, distribution, and promotion. The level of denial exhibited shows that additional regulation of the industry and its tactics will need to proceed without industry acceptance. Clear resistance to increasing consumer protections also points to the futility of inviting industry members to the policy table.

Alcohol and breast cancer risk: Middle-aged women’s logic and recommendations for reducing consumption in Australia

“…Research demonstrates that Australian adults are regularly exposed to advertisements that depict alcohol consumption as fun, social and inexpensive, reinforcing existing cultural norms that prevent them from meeting current consumption guidelines [54]. In fact, the alcohol industry have been identified as actively working against health messages and purposefully working to embed alcohol into Australian culture [55]. Therefore, to achieve reductions in alcohol consumption, it has been recommended that continual education regarding the harms of alcohol needs to occur within a range of national, state and local policy controls.…”

Prevention, screening, and treatment for heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder

“…Some alcohol industry strategies may seek to undermine effective health policies and programs, increasing the challenges to their implementation and efficacy. 238,239 An area meriting exploration is how the alcohol policy environment impacts the efficacy of individual-level methods in preventing and treating heavy drinking and AUD, including among individuals with comorbid psychiatric disorders. More complete knowledge of how individual-level and socio-ecological-level factors interact in the prevention and treatment of AUD would facilitate better targeting of prevention efforts, a particularly important concern given the limited resources available to minimize alcohol-related morbidity and mortality.…”

Improving Knowledge that Alcohol Can Cause Cancer is Associated with Consumer Support for Alcohol Policies: Findings from a Real-World Alcohol Labelling Study

“…While a large robust evidence base consistently suggests that restricting the availability and marketing and regulating the price of alcohol are the most cost-effective and easy-to-implement measures for reducing population-level alcohol consumption and harms [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], these policies often endure strong opposition from sections of the public and hence also some policy-makers [31][32][33]. Since alcohol is perceived by many as a relatively benign substance, trying to limit or contain alcohol consumption, even when supported by good evidence, is often resisted by some in the public who see availability, price and convenience of purchase as a societal good [34]. Public approval of alcohol policies is critical for social change.…”