Self regulations evaluated by young people

The AMMIE project - Alcohol Marketing Monitoring in Europe

Under the Influence: Protecting teens from the impact of alcohol marketing, 21 June 2011, European Parliament (Brussels)

Overview presentation•AMMIE project•Monitoring activities•Testing the existing regulations •Advertising Commitee’s judgements versus

youngsters’ opinions•Conclusions and recommendations

AMMIE Alcohol Marketing Monitoring in Europe

AMMIE project• July 2009 till August 2011• Co-funded by the European Commission• NGOs from Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands

Aims• To monitor alcohol marketing systematically • Monitor alcohol advertising independent from commercial interests• Test functioning of alcohol marketing regulations • Include young people in the evaluation of alcohol advertisements• Special attention to the protection of young people

Monitoring• Based on a method developed by the Dutch institute for alcohol policy after years

of monitoring experience• Monitoring volume and content of alcohol marketing

AMMIE Deliverables

Country reports on:1. Trends in alcohol marketing2. Complaints and the complaining systems3. Exposure of young people (volume)4. Alcohol related sport sponsorship

European reports on:5. Complaints and the complaining systems6. Exposure of young people (volume)

AMMIE Involving youth panels

To test whether advertisements are appealing to young people: Ask the young people!

Youth rating panels:• ± 30 youngsters per country• Aged 12-17 years old• 4 ratings in 2010• 4-6 advertisements per rating▫Questions to test the regulations ▫Questions to test the level of appeal to young people

Monitoring alcohol advertising in Italy

Monitoring activities:• Adlibrary• Volume data• Systematical check important websites• Outdoor monitoring

Testing the regulation system• Filing complaints, with special attention for: ▫ targeting young people/appealing to young people, ▫ social sexual or sportive success, ▫excessive drinking

• Working with youth rating panels

Complaining activity in Italy

Complaints on 26 alcohol ads - 38 (sub)complaints

Complaints filed to:

- Institute of Self-Regulation Advertising - IAP -National Authority for Commercial Communication –

AGCM

11 (29%) upheld

20 (53%) not upheld

7 (18%) no answer

Alcohol adverting regulations in Europe (1)

AVMSD (2007)• Only EU statutory regulation• TV and Internet

• Concerning ‘appealing for young people’:(a) it may not be aimed specifically at minors or, in particular,

depict minors consuming these beverages;(b) it shall not link the consumption of alcohol to enhanced

physical performance or to driving;(c) it shall not create the impression that the consumption of

alcohol contributes towards social or sexual success;

Alcohol adverting regulations in Europe (2)

Council Recommendations (2007)• Mostly reflected in self regulation codes• Articles referring to the protection of young people:(b) to ensure that alcoholic beverages are not designed or promoted to appeal to

children and adolescents,and paying particular attention inter alia, to the following elements:— the use of styles (such as characters, motifs or colours) associated with youth

culture,— featuring children, adolescents, or other young (looking ) models, in promotion

campaigns,— implications of social, sexual or sporting success,— encouragement of children and adolescents to drink, including low-price selling to

adolescents of alcoholic drinks,— advertising during, or sponsorship of, sporting, musical or other special events which

a significant number of children and adolescents attend as actors or spectators, — advertising in media targeted at children and adolescents or reaching a significant

number of children and adolescents

Testing the regulations (1)

Five countries filed complaints to ACC on:▫ targeting young people/appealing to young people, ▫ Implicating social sexual or sportive success, ▫Stimulating excessive drinking▫Other topics possibly in breach with self regulations codes

Focus on first 3 topics as these are found to be appealing for young people

Testing the regulations (2) Complaints filed per country

Country # of

advertisements

to be challenged

# of (sub)

complaints

Not Upheld Upheld No

decision

(yet)

Bulgaria 10 42 28 14 -

Denmark 17 35 23 9 3

Germany 15 35 29 6 -

Italy 26 38 20 11 7

Netherlands 16 49 44 5 -

Total 84 199 (100%) 144 (72%) 45 (23%) 10 (5%)

Testing the regulations (3) Complaints filed per theme

Theme of the

complaint

# of advertising

practices

# of (sub)

complaints

Not upheld Upheld No

decision

(yet)

Appealing to

youth

47 40 3 4

Excessive

drinking

27 17 8 2

Sexual, social or

sportive success

76 52 22 2

Other 49 35 12 2

Total 84 199 144 45 10

Testing the regulations (4) Asking the opinion of youth rating panels

Complaints were rated by young people:- Questions to test the regulations and questions to test the

level of appeal: (eg.)- “Is this advertisement targeting your peers?”- “is this advertisement appealing to your peers?”

Judgements committee were compared to opinion youngsters

Targeting young people? (Italian example)

Targeting young people? (Italian example)

Targeting young people? (Italian example)

YRP: 21 respondents out of 22 think

that this advertising is appealing to their

peers, 13 also believe that the target

groups are children and adolescents

(14-17 years old)

ACC: complaint not upheld because

using cartoons does not necessarily

mean targeting children or adolescents

Targeting young people? (Dutch example)

Costumize your own bottle

Acc: this advertisement is not specifically targeted at minors

YRP: this advertisement is appealing to our peers (28 out of 37).

Quote one of the youngsters: “It seems attractive to children (drawing), while they are advertising for alcohol which is for people above 16 years, this is confusing.”

Targeting young people and implicating social success? (example from Italy)

Targeting young people and implicating social success? (example from Italy)

ACC: the ad does not refer to the relation between alcohol and facilitation of social relationships

YRP: all 22 youngsters think that the spot is appealing to their peers, 14 out of 22 believe that the advertisement may give the impression that drinking facilitates social relationships and contributes to social and sexual success.

Implication of social and sexual success?(Bulgarian example)

Implication of social and sexual success?(Bulgarian example)

ACC: ad does not imply social and sexual success as a result of alcohol use

YRP: ad implies social (11 out of 25) and sexual (18 out of 25) success. 17 out of 25 youngster find the ad appealing.

Implication of social succes? (Danish example)

Implication of social succes? (Danish example)

ACC: no link between drinking alcohol and social success because of the humorous nature of the ad

YRP: appealing ad (37 out of 40) which links alcohol to social success (26 out of 40)

Comment of one of the youngsters: “Simply brilliant! -“The worlds´ best ad ever, no doubt!”

Implicating sportive success? (Danish example)

Implicating sportive success? (Danish example)

ACC: not targeting minors but linked to sportive success

YRP: very appealing (38 out of 40) and linked to sportive success (28 out of 40)

Comparing judgement ACC to opinion young people(1) Complaints not upheld by ACC

Nature of complaint # of rejected sub

complaints by

Committee

(not upheld)

View youth panel

differs from

Committee

(disagree)

View youth panel is

similar to that of

the Committee

Appealing to youth* 27 27 0

Excessive drinking 11 6 5

Social, sexual or

sportive success

31 24 7

Total 69 57 12

*youth disagrees with ACC when they stated that the advertisement was appealing for them (ACC judge on targeting youth)

Comparing judgement ACC to opinion young people(2) Complaints upheld by ACC

Nature of complaint # of rejected sub

complaints by

Committee

(upheld)

View youth panel

differs from

Committee

View youth panel is

similar to that of

the Committee

Appealing to youth* 5 0 5

Excessive drinking 7 4 3

Social, sexual or

sportive success

7 2 5

Total 19 6 13

*youth agrees with ACC when they stated that the advertisement was not appealing for them. (ACC judged on targeting young people).

Conclusions (1)

•Many complaints about advertisements were not upheld▫199 complaints against 84 advertisements▫72% not upheld, 23% upheld

•Advertising Standards Committees accept relatively large amounts of alcohol advertising campaigns which are appealing to young people ▫Alcohol advertising which is not specifically targeting young people can still be very

appealing to young people• Many advertisements are, judging by the views of the Youth Panels, in breach with

the Council Recommendation and AVMSD.• Many alcohol advertisements contain features from youth culture▫ Style elements of youth culture (animations, music, colours, etc). ▫ Thus, found to be in breach with the Council Recommendations (2001). ▫ And with Article 15 of the Audio Visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

• Humour is an appealing style element to young people, but not addressed in self regulatory codes

• The use of irony legitimates other elements in breach with the code

• The formulation of the self-regulation articles is too precise▫ Existing regulations do not protect young people▫ many cases the narrow description in the regulations is an easy way to reject a

complaint.• Two examples:

- Alcohol advertising may not specifically be aimed at young people leaves the freedom for advertising appealing to young people as well as adults - Alcohol advertising should not suggest that their alcohol use leads to social, sexual or sportive success, but it can still associate drinking alcohol these types of success

• Acceptance of self-regulation in Europe contributes to alcohol use among children and youths / minors.▫ Self regulation for alcohol advertising does not work as it doesn’t protect young people

Conclusions (2)

• Review existing regulations regarding the content of alcohol advertising independent from commercial interests

• Avoid confusing and ambiguous codes, state what is allowed rather than what is not allowed

• Update Council Recommendations to protect young people• Update the AVMSD to protect young people

• Implement evidence based knowledge in alcohol regulations (STAP,2010) ▫ Alcohol advertisements should be evaluated according to young people’s

interpretation and not according to the intention of the advertiser.▫ Content restrictions should address all elements that prove to be appealing to

young people (e.g. lifestyle images, humour).▫ Content restrictions should limit advertisements that young people find appealing,

even if these are not specifically targeting minors or are specifically appealing to minors (but to adults as well).

▫ • Effective regulation of alcohol advertising covers both the content and the volume of

alcohol advertising

Recommendations (1)