Restricting or banning alcohol advertising to reduce alcohol consumption in adults and adolescents

Abstract

Background Alcohol is estimated to be the fifth leading risk factor for global disability-adjusted life years. Restricting or banning alcohol advertising may reduce exposure to the risk posed by alcohol at the individual and general population level. To date, no systematic review has evaluated the effectiveness, possible harms and cost-effectiveness of this intervention. Objectives To evaluate the benefits, harms and costs of restricting or banning the advertising of alcohol, via any format, compared with no restrictions or counter-advertising, on alcohol consumption in adults and adolescents.

Implications of Cochrane Review on restricting or banning alcohol advertising in South Africa

“…[1] These delays resulted from the addition of an independent regulatory impact assessment due to be completed in 2014. A Cochrane Review on restricting or banning alcohol advertising to reduce alcohol consumption [2] was published in November 2014 and should inform policy deliberations.…”

“…Many well-known regression analyses for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and US data on advertising and consumption did not meet the study inclusion criteria, largely because the timing of the intervention could not be determined. [2] Of four eligible studies, one was a small randomised controlled trial (RCT) that evaluated drinking behaviour of 80 young Dutch men who were exposed to movies having either low or high alcohol content together with commercials for alcohol products or neutral content (surrogate for a ban on alcohol advertising). The others were interrupted time series (ITS) studies conducted in Canada, with one evaluating what happened after a 58-year ban was lifted and the remaining two evaluating what happened after advertising bans were implemented in two provinces.…”

“…A Cochrane Review on restricting or banning alcohol advertising to reduce alcohol consumption [2] was published in November 2014 and should inform policy deliberations.As part of the review, 8 902 articles were screened and 107 scrutinised. Many well-known regression analyses for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and US data on advertising and consumption did not meet the study inclusion criteria, largely because the timing of the intervention could not be determined.…”

“…A Cochrane Review on restricting or banning alcohol advertising to reduce alcohol consumption [2] was published in November 2014 and should inform policy deliberations.…”

Impact of exposure to alcohol marketing and subsequent drinking patterns among youth and young adults

“…As pointed out by Petti-crew and colleagues (Petticrew 2017), alcohol marketing effects are complex and need to be viewed from a systems perspective, not limited only to one kind of study or a single set of outcomes. The authors point out that these “systems” level considerations go well beyond what could be covered in any one Cochrane Review (Siegfried 2014). A full set of studies and outcomes would include content analyses (to ascertain the plausibility of effects on behaviour), econometric studies of aggregate consumption, individual-level cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, mediational analyses aimed at mechanisms, experimental studies of attention, brain cue-response, attitudinal response, and behaviour, and natural experiments to understand the effect of advertising restrictions or bans.…”