Alcohol advertising watchdog Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) has seen a slight rise in complaints and determinations compared with the first two quarters this year.
ABAC's 2022 third quarter saw 30 complaints made and seven upheld determinations. In contrast to 2022's second quarter of 21 complaints, four upheld determinations and in the first quarter with 27 complaints, six upheld determinations.
Similar to the second quarterly report where alcohol ad complaints highlighted issues on social media placements, the third quarter highlights the problem of alcohol companies engaging with social media trends.
ABAC chair Harry Jenkins said: “The determinations made this quarter by the ABAC Adjudication Panel highlight some important areas where care is needed when developing alcohol marketing.
“Some companies like to include in their marketing, imagery that is nostalgic for adults as it reminds them of their youth. However, if the appeal of a nostalgic reference or imagery is enduring in its popularity for the current generation of minors it is likely to breach Code standards."
As occurred when figures from the Little Miss children’s book series were used in a social media post by alcohol delivery company Milkrun. Which breached two codes as it encouraged excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and demonstrated a strong appeal to minors by referencing and using images from a children's book. As a result, the Company removed the Instagram post promptly.
Milkrun Little Miss campaign, source: ABAC.
Jenkins: "The Panel also considered the use of the trending ‘wave’ filter on an Instagram post this quarter and found that the combination of the filter effects and the caption encouraged excessive consumption or alternatively, treated it as amusing, which breaches Code standards."
Beer company Better Beer used the filter and in the caption said "It’s Friday arvo…let’s get wobbly…”. The visual effect combined with the text caused The Panel to believe the post was encouraging drinking until intoxicated. As a result, The Company modified the caption of the Instagram post.
Better Beer Instagram post, source: ABAC.
Jenkins: "It is important to remember that humour won’t save a marketing communication that fails to meet Code standards.
“Another useful reminder arising from Panel decisions, is that where a product packaging or a marketing campaign promotes a positive community benefit, the Code standards for responsible marketing cannot be ‘traded off’ against another desirable outcome.
"That is, the ABAC does not envisage a marketing communication that is inconsistent with a Code standard will be allowed if the marketing communication serves some other worthwhile purpose.
“An important statistic each quarter is the extent to which alcohol marketers choose to use the ABAC prevetting service as an independent check that their marketing is meeting responsible alcohol marketing standards. It is positive to see demand continue to increase substantially each year, with almost 1,000 requests received in the last quarter.
"This increase in demand has resulted in a new pre-vetting lodgment system that was launched earlier this year. The new system enables companies to now lodge revised material or concepts for an existing application direct through the database, rather than via email.
"We encourage companies to lodge material direct as this is the fastest and most efficient way to have revised material pre-vetted."
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