April 16th, 2012
Drinks giants team up to head off ad regulation
By Gideon Spanier
The Independent
Eight of Europe’s biggest alcohol firms have united to launch new rules for their own advertising in an effort to head off tighter regulation.
Carlsberg, Heineken and Diageo are among the booze giants that have agreed the “Responsible Marketing Pact”, which is being launched today and will cover all European Union countries.
A key measure is a commitment not to target children, particularly on social media. The eight alcohol companies said that they will only buy advertising in media “where at least 70 per cent of the audience is reasonably expected to be above legal purchase age”, and the ads themselves must not be “attractive” to kids.