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The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern regarding alcohol consumption and related harms in developing nations. Concomitantly a growing evidence base suggests that alcohol marketing influences drinking behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to explore how critical social marketing can help assess the nature of alcohol marketing, and the effectiveness of its regulation, in developing countries.

A sample of 14 alcohol marketing campaigns from India, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are assessed against the regulatory codes governing alcohol marketing in the UK.

The study found that alcohol marketing often contravened the UK regulatory codes. Critical social marketing offers a framework for research and analysis to assess the nature and impact of alcohol marketing, and to address alcohol related harms in developing countries.

This exploratory study is limited to a small convenience sample. Future research to systematically audit alcohol marketing, and consumer studies to assess its impact on drinking behaviours in developing nations would be welcomed.

Findings suggest that initiatives to monitor and effectively regulate alcohol marketing in developing nations should be explored by policymakers. The competitive analysis and insight generated by studies of this nature can aid development agencies in the design and implementation of alcohol social marketing interventions. The global alcohol industry and marketers should also be encouraged to act more socially responsible.

The paper offers insights into how the critical social marketing framework can be applied in practice, to inform social marketing activity in the upstream and downstream environment.

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.

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.

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.

The qualitative research was limited to three geographical locations with young adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a national alcohol-prevention social marketing campaign in Thailand, investigating specifically the competing forces of the campaign vis-à-vis alcohol advertising.

Based on repeated cross-sectional, nationally representative data from the 2011-2014 Annual Survey of Buddhist Lent Campaign Evaluation (N = 10,133), a generalized ordered logit (partial proportional odds) model is used. The outcome of interest is self-reported alcohol consumption during the campaign period, compared to before. The main explanatory variables include exposure to the campaign and exposure to alcohol advertising.

Results show that exposure to the campaign and exposure to alcohol advertising positively and negatively influence alcohol consumption, respectively. Compared to those with one type of exposure and those without any exposure to alcohol-related messages, drinkers with exposure to both the campaign and alcohol advertising are estimated to have the highest probability of drinking reduction during the campaign period.

The paper highlights the importance of accounting for a countervailing force (in this case, alcohol advertising) in campaign evaluation studies. It also suggests that alcohol-control social marketing be continued and that the government should disseminate alcohol-prevention messages in a balanced manner, ensuring that both costs and benefits of alcohol consumption are well-understood by the intended audience.

Two studies were undertaken with the aim of determining the nature and prevalence of exposure to alcohol sponsorship communications associated with sport. Study 1 reports a content analysis of alcohol sponsors' leveraging across popular sporting events. Study 2 examines alcohol sponsors' activation in social media. A high proportion of alcohol sponsorship messages containing content appealing to young adult drinkers are revealed across multiple media. Events and policy implications are addressed.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it examines the communication strategies pursued by firms related to alcohol beverages in Spain during a decade with major changes in alcohol marketing regulations. Second, it analyzes the relationship between these strategies and underage alcohol consumption before and after 2007.

Panel data methodology is implemented using data from ESTUDES national survey (average sample size 26,000 interviews, 2004-2010) and INFOADEX (nationwide advertising expenditure, 1999-2013).

The results show that, under a restrictive alcohol marketing framework, firms related to alcohol beverages adapt their communication strategies: budget deviation from advertising to sponsorship. Regarding alcohol quantity and frequency models, the relationship between alcohol advertising expenditure and underage alcohol consumption after 2007 is very small but still positive and significant. However, contrary to expectations, in the case of alcohol sponsorship, the relationship between expenditure and underage alcohol consumption has not been affected by the observed budget deviation from advertising to sponsorship after 2007.

Changes in alcohol advertising and sponsorship regulation lead firms related to alcohol beverages to change their communication strategies to overcome new regulatory restrictions and to reach their target group. Overall, despite the relationships between both advertising and sponsorship expenditure and underage alcohol consumption diminish between periods, they still remain positive and significant. Closer and updated monitoring of alcohol communication strategies pursued by firm is needed to keep controlling the alcohol advertising and sponsorship exposure to under age people.

This is a pioneer study in analyzing communication strategies within the Spanish alcohol beverages sector and in proposing a model to analyze the dynamic effect of such strategies on underage alcohol consumption.

This paper aims to explore the market dynamics that led to a shift in Swedish consumers' alcohol preferences from schnapps to wine. Specifically, the study investigates how the Swedish state influenced consumers' alcohol habits and highlights the role of governance units in shaping consumer culture.

The study reconstructs the historical memory of the “Operation Vin”, a strategic marketing campaign implemented by Systembolaget from 1957 to 1985, to conceptualize the past and to uncover the structures and change dynamics of the Swedish alcohol market system. Following this approach, the research contrasts historical data from multiple sources with market-oriented ethnographical data and traces the trajectory of how the consumption of alcohol has changed as a consequence of the Swedish state’s initiatives.

The study offers two contributions to the literature in marketing and consumption history. Firstly, it uncovers the lines of actions (framing and settlement) involved in creating marketing systems and shaping consumer culture. Secondly, it explores how the state strategically leveraged its social skills to promote a specific type of alcohol consumption (wine) and to induce the Swedish consumer to cooperate in the refashioning of the alcohol field.

The authors aspire for this paper to offer valuable insights into how a state, as a governance entity, can shape consumer culture through a strategic blend of various regulatory measures, both gentle and forceful. The authors emphasize the pivotal role of social skills in fostering cooperation during the implementation of a new alcohol policy.

This paper provides valuable insights into the role of the Swedish state in shaping consumer culture and explores the strategic actions and marketing systems involved, contributing to marketing and consumption history literature.

The purpose of this paper is to share – and provide context for – eight recommendations about responsible drinks marketing, which were developed by an Expert Committee led by the author in 2006. The International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) and its sponsors have long recognized the importance of maintaining integrity and high standards in the marketing of beverage alcohol products.

An Expert Committee was convened from 30 May to 2 June, 2006, with participants who were selected from each region of the world, representing the perspectives of marketers, regulators, beverage alcohol producers, researchers and consumers. The result of their work together was a report entitled, Responsible Drinks Marketing: Shared Rights and Responsibilities, which included the eight recommendations presented in this article.

Recommendations focus on three distinct contexts: understanding perspectives on responsible drinks marketing; unifying principles for marketing worldwide; and best practice strategies for marketers.

Alcohol beverages have been an integral part of societies for thousands of years. While consumption patterns vary dramatically in different countries and societies, the marketing of beverage alcohol carries significant responsibilities.

Based on the agreed‐upon premise that adults who choose to drink should be free to enjoy alcohol beverages safely and responsibly, the author and Expert Committee drew upon resources that included United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection.

Concerns about underage drinking have led to calls for a UK ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport. Such a ban would have severe financial consequences for many sports, so should not be implemented without thorough consideration of its likely effectiveness. This study investigating the alcohol consumption intentions of 14 and 15 year olds showed that boys who were involved in sport were more likely both to drink alcohol and to get drunk, with awareness of sponsorship enhancing the likelihood of these behaviours. Girls involved in sport, however, showed more negative attitudes than their peers towards alcohol. It is argued that boys involved in sport are socialised into a traditional masculine alcohol and sports culture, which is reinforced by sponsorship. Evidence from studies on tobacco sponsorship suggests that health-related marketing communications and the use of low-alcohol or non-alcohol brands for sports sponsorship could be more effective than a ban in changing the culture.

Social marketing scholars have posited that influencing policy makers, regulators, managers and educators can help address societal problems “upstream”. Applying “upstream social marketing”, these groups can be treated as target audiences, and through use of marketing techniques, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and informing evidence based policy making, their behaviour can be influenced to engender pro-social outcomes, for example through policy change. However, examples and guidance on how upstream social marketing can be effectively employed to successfully alter the structural environment is lacking. This article aims to unlock the potential of upstream social marketing by examining how it can be systematically employed.

The article examines the development of the upstream social marketing concept in the extant literature, and presents some guiding principles, before analysing the case study of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotland. The failure to comprehensively employ upstream social marketing in this case is compared with the successful use of upstream social marketing in tobacco control.

The article suggests that heretofore, upstream social marketing has not always been systematically applied using social marketing principles. Guidance on upstream social marketing is presented, and thoughts on the trajectory of the concept for the future are offered.

The paper identifies guidelines for unlocking the potential of upstream social marketing, and suggests areas in which future research and writings are required to help develop the concept.

Alcohol sponsorship of sport is common in Australia, with much debate about the appropriateness of linking sport with alcohol advertising and promotion. This paper provides examples of such sponsorships to appreciate the extent and nature of the complex relationship between sport and alcohol sponsors. The public health and policy implications of alcohol sponsorship of sport extending to creating a sporting competition purely to promote an alcohol brand are considered.