Breaching the code: Alcohol, Facebook and self-regulation

Abstract Purpose – Social marketing initiatives designed to address the UK’s culture of unhealthy levels of drinking among young adults have achieved inconclusive results to date. The paper aims to investigate the gap between young people’s perceptions of alcohol consumption and those of government agencies who seek to influence their behaviour set within a contextualist framework. Design/methodology/approach – The authors present empirical evidence from a major study that suggests that the emphasis of recent campaigns on individual responsibility may be unlikely to resonate with young drinkers. The research included a meaning-based and visual rhetoric analysis of 261 ads shown on TV, in magazines, on billboards and on the internet between 2005 and 2006. This was followed by 16 informal group discussions with 89 young adults in three locations. Findings – The research identified the importance of the social context of young people’s drinking. The research reveals how a moral position has been culturally constructed around positioning heavy drinking as an individual issue with less regard to other stakeholders and how the marketing agents function in this environment. Calls to individual responsibility in drinking are unlikely to succeed in the current marketing environment. Research limitations/implications – The qualitative research was limited to three geographical locations with young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. Practical implications – The authors explore implications for social marketing theory and for UK alcohol policy. In particular, the authors suggest that the social norms surrounding young people’s drinking need to be acknowledged and built into “sensible” social marketing campaigns. The authors suggest that shame, fear and guilt appeals should be replaced with more constructive methods of ensuring young people’s safety when they drink. Originality/value – From the theoretical perspective of contextualism, the paper brings together empirical research with young adults and a critical analysis of recent social marketing campaigns within the commercial context of a “culture of intoxication”. It provides both a critique of social marketing in a neo-liberal context and recognition of issues involved in excessive alcohol consumption. Keywords Alcoholic drinks, Social marketing, Public health, Youth, Individual behaviour, Paper type Research paper

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the 2015 law restricting alcohol marketing on social media in Finland. Method: The study compared posts that market alcohol on Finnish and Swedish social media in terms of number, content, and user engagement during the month of January in three separate years: 1 year before, 1 year after, and 2 years after the 2015 Alcohol Act came into effect in Finland. The data consisted of all posts (Finland, N = 1,536; Sweden, N = 1,204) published during the selected months by alcohol brands that had active national social media accounts at the time of data collection. The coding protocol included numbers of posts and measures of consumer engagement, as well as content restricted by the law. Results: Social media posting increased between the 2014 and 2016 samples in both countries. In Finland, the number of posts decreased in 2017. The proportion of posts with content restricted by the 2015 law increased in both countries between the 2014 and 2016 samples. However, in Finland, the amount of restricted content decreased in the 2017 sample, whereas in Sweden it increased, Pearson χ 2 (1) = 29.273, p < .001. The level of user engagement increased in both countries between the 2014 and 2017 samples. Conclusions: The social media regulation in the Finnish 2015 amendment has had an impact on alcohol brands' social media content, but it has not affected marketers' ability to increase consumer engagement. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 81, 000-000, 2020) Katainen (Jan 2020) 3 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (SNS) have become important forums for alcohol marketing, especially in terms of reaching young consumers (Lobstein et al., 2017; McCreanor et al., 2013; Moraes et al., 2014). For alcohol marketers, SNS provide the means to increase brand visibility, enhance interaction with potential customers, and make alcoholic brands a part of everyday social interaction (Nicholls, 2012). Previous studies have shown that most global alcohol brands are actively present on SNS and invest substantially in marketing on these platforms (Alhabash et al., 2015). Moreover, minors are able to access this content, especially on YouTube and Twitter (Barry et al., 2015, 2016; Winpenny et al., 2014), and current regulatory mechanisms are insufficient to protect them (Jernigan & Rushman, 2014). Finland was the first country in the world to incorporate social media-specific regulation into its Alcohol Act. The amendment came into effect in 2015 and aims to limit the use of SNS for alcohol marketing purposes in order to protect minors and prevent adolescent alcohol use. Advertising on social media comprises a range of strategies that aim to increase brandrelated interaction with consumers (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). Brand-related accounts are used for commercial communication and to build communities around brands and products (Habibi et al., 2014). Content can be either "organic" (reaching mainly account followers) or "sponsored," whereby the social media service provider is paid to increase the visibility of the content, which then appears on users' feeds according to selected targeting criteria, such as age, place of residence, gender, or interests (Carah et al., 2018). SNS enables users to engage with the content by liking, commenting, or sharing it. Through these reactions, users are involved in the distribution of marketing messages (Freeman et al., 2014). A key feature of social media is to provide a platform for storytelling and self-presentation (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Alcohol brands can be used as components in the construction of a self-image on SNS (Atkinson et al., Katainen (Jan 2020) 4 2017), enabling consumers themselves to efficiently act as brand promotors (Carah, 2016; Griffiths & Casswell, 2010; van Dijck, 2013). Communication scholars have discussed whether, in this sense, interaction between consumers and brands can be viewed as exploitation when it serves commercial objectives (Fisher, 2015). Moreover, social media marketing blurs the boundaries between advertising and user-generated content, making it difficult for users to identify communications intended for commercial purposes (Nichols, 2012). These ethically problematic aspects of social media marketing were focal in the drafting of the 2015 amendment (Montonen & Tuominen, 2016). The 2015 amendment restricts the use of SNS in alcohol marketing in three ways (see Montonen & Tuominen, 2016). First, it bans the use of games, lotteries, and competitions; and second, it prohibits using user-generated content in alcohol marketing. This means that alcohol marketers must not share users' visual and textual content, such as their uploaded pictures of drinking occasions, on their accounts or in their communication. Third, distributing alcohol marketing content that is intended to be shared by consumers is also prohibited. The wording of the law could be interpreted as a total ban on all alcohol marketing on social media, as, ultimately, all marketing content on social media is "intended to be shared." The goal of social media marketing is to gain visibility and enable interaction through content sharing and other user reactions (Brodmerkel & Carah, 2013). However, the government proposal explicitly states that the Finnish amendment is not intended to prohibit all alcohol-related commercial communication on social media. Instead, it aims to limit the use of social media marketing tools while enabling adults to obtain information on alcoholic beverages (Oikeusministeriö, 2013). The 2015 amendment is internationally significant, as its impact on alcohol marketing provides essential information on the possibilities for regulating social media marketing in

Social media platforms are important actors in the development of alcohol marketing techniques. While public health research has documented the activities of brands and consumers related to alcohol promotion and consumption on social media, there remains the need to develop an account of the native, participatory and data-driven advertising model of these platforms. This article examines the relationship between alcohol brands, media platforms and their users by analysing the activity of the 20 most popular alcohol brands’ Australian Facebook pages in 2012 and 2014. We report that the number of fans of alcohol brands increased 52% from 2012 to 2014. While the number of posts dropped 12% from 2012 and 2014, total interactions with posts by users increased by 9%. Overall, brand activity and engagement became more consistent between 2012 and 2014. We argue that the changing character of user engagement with alcohol brands on Facebook can be related to changes in the platform architecture. Facebook is orchestrating a shift from exposure to engagement as its key advertising metric, and thus departing substantially from established mass media advertising paradigms. Effective policy responses to alcohol marketing in the digital era depend on a more rigorous examination of the marketing infrastructure of social media platforms.

International Journal of Drug Policy

BMJ, 2010

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

The consumption of alcohol by young people remains a major public health concern at both the national and international level. Levels of drinking among 15-yearolds in the United Kingdom (UK) remain significantly higher than the European average. This study explored how alcohol brands are used by young people to develop their desired identities and how these acts of consumption extend to young people’s profiles on social media. It also deepens understanding of how alcohol brands are connected to young peoples’ concerns about image and peer group dynamics. This involved qualitative focus groups with young people aged 14–17 in Central Scotland. Certain alcohol brands were approved and viewed as socially acceptable by young people, while others were rejected. Children as young as 14 were selecting products to portray a drinking identity that was appropriately aligned to their gender and sexuality. Participants displayed a desire to associate themselves with the mature drinking culture p...

The marketing and promotion of alcohol have attracted considerable controversy in Australia in recent years. Many researchers argue that the active promotion of alcohol has led to increases in alcohol consumption in Australia, particularly among the young, as well as a range of alcohol-related harms and problems. Others contest this view, whilst the alcohol industry itself contends that alcohol advertising is more concerned with winning and maintaining ‘market share’ than with attracting new drinkers. As such debates intensify, it is timely to consider changes in the content and format of alcohol advertising in this country. This paper examines a number of recent Australian alcohol advertisements, comparing those for beer with those for spirits and ‘ready to drink’ products in highlighting some significant changes in the ways leisure and consumption are represented in youth cultures. I argue that many of these advertisements present alcohol as a potent means of enhancing young people’s leisure experience in ways that risk endorsing excessive alcohol consumption as an appropriate or ‘normal’ leisure activity for young people.

Alcohol research UK, 2018

2017

Young adults are surrounded by positive images not only of alcohol consumption but of actual drunkenness. Images of drunkeness permeate TV reality shows (Koordeman et al. 2012), YouTube music videos (Cranwell et al. 2015), and Facebook photos, with behaviours supported by 'likes' and and approving comments (Niland et al 2014). Furthermore, alcohol consumption is often synonymous with the heightened emotions experienced at events, attended with friends and a community of like-minded people. Unfortunately, alcohol marketers are all too aware of the efficacy their brands have with lifestyle consumption communities and leverage this through sponsorship and event marketing (Rowley 2008). The ethics of this are clearly questionable (Gordon et al. 2015). Risky or illicit behaviour is therefore encouraged via these media which create the desire to be drunk and can be seen to have a particular effect on young people who are highly influenced by peers and anxious to conform (Netemeyer et al. 2015; Rose et al 2001). Our research uses music festivals as a space to engage with attendees and investigate their relationship with alcohol and the social influences on this behavior aiming to answer the following questions: What lived experiences do young persons have in an alcohol and emotionally-rich time and place? and, What can social marketers learn from these lived experiences that could help develop appropriate interventions? Literature review In understanding behavior change in relation to alcohol there has been much debate about where the responsibility lies or at least whose actions will have the most effect. The downstream approach has been more prevalent in recent safer drinking campaigns (Zharekhina and Kubacki, 2015) where the focus is typically on the end user and imposed by an upstream organization/body. The downstream approach assumes the consumer will make a rational decision to change their behavior once given the right information on health and/or other risks. This approach also presumes that consumers can understand and react to 'be risk aware' messages and, more importantly, trust the information provided (

Mass Communication and Society, 2005

A content analysis examined how well alcohol ads from televised sporting events adhered to self-regulatory advertising guidelines. Although nearly every ad followed the guidelines literally, there were numerous instances of strategically ambiguous content that could be interpreted as violating the guidelines' spirit. For example, a joke about designated drivers hinted at drunkenness without explicitly showing it, and many ads showed drinking as well as risky activities like driving or swimming, although not necessarily occurring simultaneously. The study also confirmed that alcohol ads are common in televised sporting events, and that the most frequent themes are humor, friendship, sex, and romance, a potentially troubling finding given that beliefs about the social benefits of alcohol predict drinking in young people. These findings suggest that alcohol advertising might contribute to the formation of expectancies in young people, and that current self-regulation may not be an effective way to prevent alcohol advertising from appealing to people under the age of 21. What influence alcohol advertising has on the American public's drinking behavior is a hotly debated subject. The alcoholic beverage industry seeks to downplay the effects of its messages, claiming they are intended to promote brand loyalty,