Advertising & Sponsorship at ActionPoint

Case for Change

Posted in 4. Supermarkets

In 1989, wine and mead became available for sale from grocery stores and supermarkets. This was followed in 1999 with beer. The sale of spirits is not permitted.

The introduction of wine sales into New Zealand supermarkets increased the affordability and consumption of wine markedly. New Zealanders are now drinking twice as much wine as they used to.

There are two major supermarket chains in New Zealand: Woolworths and Foodstuffs.

Alcohol is the biggest selling category in the supermarket. Many New Zealanders buy their alcohol from supermarkets.

On average, the same alcohol product is sold more cheaply from supermarkets than bottle stores.

The number of supermarkets and grocery stores in New Zealand communities has been linked with a range of alcohol-related harms: antisocial behaviour, dishonesty offences, property abuses, property damage, sexual offences and violent offences.

The placement of alcohol in everyday settings, next to commonly purchased products, may normalise alcohol use in our society. Especially among children. New Zealand children are regularly exposed to alcohol in supermarkets.

Tobacco can't be displayed in supermarkets, but alcohol can. Yet alcohol is the most harmful drug in our society.

Availability, and exposure to, alcohol in supermarkets

Generally speaking, the more that alcohol is available in a community, the higher the levels of alcohol-related harm.

In 1989, wine and mead became available for sale from grocery stores and supermarkets.

In 1999, beer became available for sale through these types of outlets. The sale of spirits is not permitted.

Research has shown that the introduction of wine sales into New Zealand supermarkets increased the affordability and consumption of wine markedly.

Wine consumption increased by 11% -16% following its sale in supermarkets. This increase takes into account the lower price of alcohol in these settings.

These increases happened immediately - within the first three months of wine being sold in supermarkets! Wine consumption has continued to increase (New Zealanders are drinking twice as much as they used to).

Alcohol sales are banned in supermarkets in Australia (although the supermarket chains usually have a separate alcohol shop next door). Many states in the United States also ban supermarket sales.

Today, around 250,000 residents of West Auckland cannot buy alcohol from their supermarkets as off-licence supply is controlled by the Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts. No supermarkets in the Invercargill Licensing Trust can sell alcohol.

During the New Zealand Law Commission's consultation on alcohol laws, a strong sentiment was found in favour of removing alcohol altogether from supermarkets and returning to the pre-1989 era when it was only sold by specialist liquor outlets.

Supermarket's market share of beer and wine sales

There are two major supermarket chains in New Zealand: Woolworths (184 Countdown stores, 62 Fresh Choice and Supervalue stores) and Foodstuffs (140 New World stores, >50 PaknSave stores, 240 Four Square stores).

In 2000, the supermarket share of beer sales was 12% and for wine it was 43%. In 2008, they sold around 30% of all beer and just under 60% of all wine. In 2008 it was estimated that beer and wine sales in supermarkets were worth $1 billion. (cited in p.59, Law Commission Report (114))

The Law Commission (p.43) also cited an in-house supermarket newsletter that wine and beer together bring in more revenue than any other category in the supermarket.

In Auckland, approximately 75% of all alcohol sold is from off-licences; 53% of this is from bottle stores and 47% from supermarkets.

In 2013, research found that the most common place for Auckland drinkers to purchase their alcohol in the last month were supermarkets.

It is well-known that alcohol sold from supermarkets is, on average, significantly cheaper than the same alcohol purchased from bottle stores. The Ministry of Justice has stated that the price is so cheap that many smaller bottle stores buy their alcohol products from supermarkets.

Alcohol-related harm and supermarkets

The density of supermarkets and grocery stores in New Zealand has been shown to be linked with a range of alcohol-related harms across the North Island of New Zealand. These include: antisocial behaviour, dishonesty offences, property abuses, property damage, sexual offences and violent offences.

Exposure to alcohol in supermarkets

PROMOTIONS AND DISCOUNTS

Supermarkets commonly use promotions to market their alcohol products for sale. They use a number of methods to stimulate shoppers to buy alcohol:

product displays
contests
price discounts
free tastings.

To read more about the impact of promotions, click here.

NORMALISATION OF ALCOHOL TO CHILDREN

On-site exposure to alcohol marketing at settings such as supermarkets is suggested to lead children to believe that alcohol is no different to any other everyday consumer good sold at the supermarket. This is especially given that supermarkets often us the same promotional strategies for alcohol as non-alcoholic products.

Many New Zealand children frequent supermarkets on a regular basis. Although they may not frequently attempt to purchase alcohol from these places, they are heavily exposed to its marketing.

In a study of New Zealand children's visits to supermarkets, it was found that in 87% of these visits they were exposed to alcohol marketing.

International studies show:

that when children are exposed to on-site marketing at alcohol retailers they are more likely to start drinking earlier.
that when children aged 12–14 years are followed over time, non-drinkers exposed to sales promotions at alcohol retailers were 42% more likely to use alcohol when they were aged 14–15 years.
that children exposed to onsite advertising at alcohol retailers at least once per week were 50% more likely to have consumed alcohol than children less frequently exposed.
that children's exposure to alcohol marketing in alcohol retailers predicts their ability to list beer brands, match brands with slogans and name products in masked beer advertisements.

END OF AISLE DISPLAYS

A high quality study in the United Kingdom found that end of aisle displays increased alcoholic purchases considerably. Sales increased as much as 23-46% - this would have a significant impact on alcohol consumption.

Tobacco is no longer displayed in supermarkets, so why is alcohol?

In July 2012, New Zealand required the removal of tobacco displays from all tobacco outlets, including supermarkets. Prior to this law change, tobacco was not to be displayed in close proximity to products that are marketed primarily for children, including all confectionery.

The reasons for these restrictions were due to the growing body of evidence, both nationally and internationally, of the effects of tobacco display advertising on adolescent smoking.

Following the law change to remove tobacco displays, positive reductions in the initiation of smoking, experimental and regular smoking, and attempted purchase of cigarettes were found.

This supports a strong case for alcohol to be less visible in everyday settings.

Take Action

Posted in 3. Our homes

Be media savvy

Be media savvy and support members of your families/whanau to also be critical of the advertising they are being exposed to. You can do this by being informed and questioning media content, not just alcohol-related content, and being open to discussing it.

Remember that advertisements and promotions are just that, and it’s OK to determine for yourself how much they influence your life.

Screen time can influence young people's attitudes and expectations regarding alcohol. Consider negotiating limits and boundaries on screen time. Most importantly, talk with your young people about what they see in their media environment. For more information about media influence on adolescents, please click here.

Please click here to learn how the alcohol industry is marketing to young people on social media.

Support your children and teens to learn important life skills (age appropriate) such as critical thinking, making decisions, resisting peer pressure. Encourage them to ask questions of the media in their environment:

What are the messages?
What is the motivation behind the messages?
Why are the messages constructed this way?
Who is being targeted?
Is the message credible?
Am I being played?

Asking hard questions about media messages in your environment helps you and your family to understand, and to have more power in how you receive these messages. You will have more of a choice in accepting, questioning, resisting, or rejecting messages in your environment.

Limit exposure to alcohol products in the home

As much as possible, try to make your home an alcohol free zone – you could store alcohol out of sight, drink less often at home, refrain from drinking in front of children. You could consider minimising the amount of alcohol branded products in your home such as caps, T-shirts, and other items carrying alcohol logos.

Limit exposure to alcohol advertising in the home

As much as possible, limit children and young people’s exposure to adult programming and events. These commonly contain alcohol advertising.

To make a complaint about alcohol advertising on TV,/radio/internet etc, click here. To make a complaint about alcohol within TV programming, click here.

Talk to your elected representatives about the need to provide more protection from alcohol advertising.

For more ideas and tips for how to reduce the exposure to alcohol in the home, please check out the following sections:

Alcohol in the home
Alcohol and young people

Case for Change

Posted in 3. Our homes

New Zealand homes are a common place for children to be exposed to alcohol marketing. Local research shows the home is the most common place for children to be exposed to alcohol marketing, with 47% of all exposures occurring in the home, most often through sports sponsorship and branded merchandise.

Exposure to alcohol advertising, including that in the home, is related to taking up drinking earlier and heavier drinking. The latest research indicates that the relationship between exposure to alcohol marketing and underage drinking is causal.

Social media is commonly used by alcohol companies to market their product. Many young people share images of themselves and alcohol brands, exposing others and using alcohol brand values to construct and position their social identities.

Being exposed to alcohol promotions can lead to alcohol harms.

Reducing exposure in our homes

In our homes, children may be exposed to many different types/forms of alcohol marketing, including:

advertising and sponsorship of sporting events, teams, and athletes
advertising on TV and/or radio
alcohol promotion within TV & radio programmes and content
alcohol marketing and images of drinking behaviour on social media from brands, influencers, and peers
alcohol products and alcohol-branded merchandise that are owned by family members, friends.
product placement in movies and video games
alcohol advertising in supermarket, grocery, and off-licence mailers and other material delivered to mailboxes

Impact of advertising on adolescent drinking

Systematic reviews of research have found exposure to alcohol marketing leads to earlier initiation of drinking and heavier drinking including binge drinking among those who already drink. In particular, engagement with alcohol marketing (taking free gifts, owning branded clothing, engaging with alcohol websites and branded social media pages) saw children engaging in frequent drinking earlier. Having a favourite alcohol advertisement was associated with increased initiation of binge drinking.

Underage binge drinking has been associated with a range of negative outcomes, including peer violence, sexual violence, alcohol‐related fighting, poor school performance, suicide attempts, and using illegal drugs.

Exposure of alcohol advertising on social media

The introduction of digital technologies has opened up new platforms for marketing and promotion.

Alcohol companies aggressively use these new digital platforms, in particular social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and user-generated content.

In 2011, two major alcohol companies announced their plan to increase their digital spend on social media. Bacardi planned to shift up to 90% of its digital spend to Facebook and Diageo expressed their multi-million dollar partnership with Facebook.

Worldwide in 2012, there were 1,017 company-sponsored alcohol-brand related sites on Facebook. In Australia, the top 20 alcohol brands had more than 2.5 million followers on their Facebook pages. Hosts of these pages generated more than 4,500 items of content where followers interacted with them by liking, sharing or commenting on them for more them 2.3 million times.

Young adults are highly active on social media, engaging with their friends or socialising. As such, exposure of alcohol advertising on social media can encourage alcohol consumption. Moreover, Facebook or other social media platform provides marketers with access to the profile data of users who like pages. These types of techniques seek to embed alcohol-branded activities in the daily lives of site fans and followers making it become an intrinsic element of daily norms.

Alcohol-content, presented as visual images and or textual content, along with positive peer reactions to the posts results in showcasing of inappropriate alcohol use in a positive light.

Posting alcohol-related content on personal social media accounts is linked to adverse alcohol-related outcomes such as higher alcohol use, craving and also alcohol-related harms. Those who are exposed to alcohol-related content on social media (e.g. posts shared by or liked by their friends in their social network) have been associated with adverse alcohol outcomes.

Associate Professor Nicholas Carah of University of Queensland, has been researching the emergence of digital media platforms over the last decade. He recently gave a remote address to the Global Alcohol Policy Conference 2020 in Dublin discussion the emergence and and increasingly sophisticated development of alcohol marketing on these platforms. You can watch his presentation on YouTube here.

Watch Nicholas Carah's presentation on alcohol marketing and digital media platforms here

Get Prepared

Posted in 1. TV, radio, billboards, magazines, social media, etc

Alcohol and marketing companies have developed their own Code for Advertising and Promotion of Alcohol. The Code contains a set of guidelines for all alcohol advertisements in NZ. From April 2021, new alcohol advertisements will be expected to adhere to the new Alcohol Advertising and Promotion Code, which will apply to all alcohol advertisements from July 2021.

There is also a law around irresponsible promotion of alcohol. This relates to the promotion of excessive drinking as well as advertising/promotions that appeal to minors. Click below to read more.

Take Action

Posted in 1. TV, radio, billboards, magazines, social media, etc

Make a complaint about alcohol advertising

You have two options in relation to a complaint:

Make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority under the Code for Alcohol Advertising and Promotion or the Alcohol Advertising and Promotion Code (for new advertisements from April 2021, all advertisements from July 2021).
Make a complaint to the Police about a breach of Section 237 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. It is likely that you will need a high standard of evidence to make a complaint to section 237. But don't let that deter you.

Make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority

You can make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority if you feel that an alcohol advertisement, promotion in New Zealand breaches the Code.

Please note that anonymous complaints are not accepted: your name must be included.

Follow the complaints process outlined on the ASA website, please click here - ASA - HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT

You can fill in the online complaint form at www.asa.co.nz, post it to PO Box 10-675, Wellington, or email [email protected].

If the advertisement is outdoors, take a photo of it.

Here are some tools to help you. The first is an example of complaint letter to the ASA under the Code for Alcohol Advertising and Promotion (expires end of June 2021), the second is a template of a letter to get your started.

Letter Template - example of a complaint letter to the Advertising Standard Authority

Letter Template - complaint letter to the Advertising Standard Authority

Here are some tools to help you. The first is an example of complaint letter to the ASA under the Alcohol Advertising and Promotion Code (in effect for new advertisements from April 2021, all advertisements from July 2021), the second is a template of a letter to get your started.

Letter Template - example of a complaint letter to the Advertising Standard Authority

Letter Template - complaint letter to the Advertising Standard Authority

Keep a log of alcohol advertising complaints

It may be useful to keep a log of complaints, especially if they are in your local community.

Incident log of alcohol advertising - possible breaches in the community

And here is an incident log of alcohol advertising on social and digital media like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc.

Incident log for alcohol advertising on social and digital media (Facebook etc.)

If your complaint is about TV programming

If you are concerned about the promotion of alcohol within television programmes (not advertisements), complaints can be made to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. Click here to read the section about the BSA on our website.

Determine whether your complaint relates to the ASA or BSA

If you want to take action on alcohol sponsorship in your community settings (clubs, etc.)

Many parents are concerned about their children being exposed to alcohol sponsorship in sporting settings. Many events that children attend may also be sponsored by alcohol companies.

To take action on sponsorship in sports, clubs, or public events (e.g. sporting matches, music, fashion festivals, arts and cultural events), click here.

Case for Change

Posted in 1. TV, radio, billboards, magazines, social media, etc

Being exposed to alcohol advertising can cause harm. It causes most harm to young people and those with addictions.

Alcohol companies spent huge amounts of money each year promoting their products.

Social media is commonly used to reach a large audience, for little cost. Exposure to alcohol advertising on social media causes harm to young people.

The harm from alcohol advertising

Advertising often displays drinking as a positive, glamorous or sexy activity, promoting feelings of togetherness, relaxation and fun. It contributes to the maintenance of existing drinking norms in society and promotes positive attitudes to drinking. By presenting the perception that drinking is a harmless activity, it ignores the reality of the range of harms which alcohol causes in our country.

International evidence has found that exposure to alcohol advertising:

Increases the likelihood that adolescents will take up drinking at an early age
Increases the likelihood that adolescents will consume high amounts of alcohol in a drinking occasion
Makes it more difficult for individuals wishing to quit or cut back their drinking
Prevents health promotion messages from being more effective.

How much alcohol companies spend on advertising

In 2009, it was estimated that approximately $200,000 was spent each day in New Zealand promoting alcohol (Alcohol Action 2009, cited in Law Commission).

Companies are increasingly using the internet to advertise their products. This presents many risks for our young people, as alcohol companies are increasingly using everyday consumers of their products to become promoters of their products to their friends – giving rise to the term “prosumers”.

Young people are particularly targeted via the internet and social media. Often, they are unaware of their role in promoting a product for an alcohol company.