Marketing alcohol to young people: implications for industry regulation and research policy

This paper focuses on the marketing of alcohol to young people in the Unite d Kingdom, but the lessons that emerge have international significance. Alc ohol is a global enterprise and recent consolidation means that it is contr olled by a decreasing number of expanding multi-nationals. Alcohol companie s are able to allocate significant resources to researching consumer prefer ences, developing new products and promoting them on an international level . Recent years have seen a growth in the value that youth culture attaches to brand labels and symbols and a move away from the healthy-living ethos. The alcohol industry's response to these trends has been to design alcoholi c beverages that appeal to young people, using well-informed and precisely targeted marketing strategies. This has led to growing concerns about the i mplications for public health and a demand for tighter controls to regulate alcohol marketing practices. In the United Kingdom, controls on alcohol ar e piecemeal and reactive and the current system of voluntary regulation app ears ineffective. This paper argues for more research to establish current industry practice and inform the development of a comprehensive regulatory structure and system of monitoring.