Alcohol marketing without borders a threat to national regulations? Report from the seminar in Stockholm on the 12th of April 2013 www.actis.no www.iogt.se
Norway and Sweden have banned alcohol advertising on TV in national regulations. Still, due to broadcastings from abroad, alcohol marketing is seen daily on Swedish TV. The situation has occurred despite national regulations, and some argue that alcohol marketing on TV is a result of the implementation of the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directives (AVMSD), a directive that regulates broadcastings in the European Union. Norway adopted the AVMSD in December 2012, with a potential of getting the same situation as Sweden. At the same time, several member states are moving in the direction of stricter regulations. IOGT NTO (Sweden) and Actis Norwegian policy network on alcohol and drugs (Norway) arranged this seminar to raise awareness on the issue alcohol marketing and remind policy makers on the paradox of alcohol commercials seen on Swedish TV. This report has been produced to give a brief overview of the content of the seminar. Please contact Ella Sjödin in IOGT NTO, ella.sjodin@iogt.se or Kjersti Aastad in Actis, kjersti@actis.no for further information on the topic. SPEAKERS at the seminar Introduction Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Minister for Culture and Sport, Sweden Anna Carlstedt, IOGT-NTO, Sweden The Swedish context Agneta Börjesson, Member of the Swedish Parliament Magnus Jägerskog, IQ Anna Dingertz, Swedish Broadcasting Authority The Norwegian context Kjersti Aastad, Actis Steinar Glimsdal, Blue Cross Norway The international context Wilfried Kamphausen, Special adviser Eurocare, previous European Commission Aurelijus Veryga, Lithuanian National Tobacco and Alcohol Control Coalition Wim van Dalen, European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing Mariann Skar, Actis Brussels office
SWEDEN Alcohol marketing in Sweden has increased dramatically since the beginning of this millennium. Approximately, a hundred times more money has been spent on alcohol marketing in Sweden in 2012 compared to the year 2000. Today, alcohol marketing is the 12th largest area of advertising in Sweden. 1.8% of the advertising investments in Sweden are spent on marketing of alcohol. TV is still the main channel for alcohol marketing, even though alcohol marketing on TV is prohibited in Sweden. The alcohol advertisement can still be seen on Swedish TV channels as long as they are broadcasted from abroad. The support for restrictive legislation on alcohol marketing is strong in Sweden. Audiovisual media services directive (AVMSD) The AVMSD specifies a minimum level and allows member states to have more restrictive rules. The Swedish law applies to established broadcasters in Sweden but is not applicable to broadcasters established in another member state. There are today several TV channels established in the United Kingdom that are targeting the Swedish audience. There is a possibility in the AVMSD for the recipient state to oppose the advertising content if its rules are stricter and of general public interest. The recipient can request for a cooperation process between the relevant authorities in the two member states. To proceed, it has to be proven that the broadcasts are intended exclusively for the audience in the recipient country. The language spoken as well as the content in the programs and the marketing give indications for what state the broadcasts are targeted to. IOGT-NTO filed a complaint based on the fact that there were alcohol advertisements on Swedish TV channels. As a result of IOGT-NTO s complaint against the broadcasted alcohol marketing in Sweden, the Swedish broadcasting authority made a request to the British authorities to make the UK based broadcasters to abide by the Swedish rules. The broadcasters have responded that they intend to continue to follow the British law and not the Swedish. It is now up to the Swedish Broadcasting Authority to decide whether to pursue the matter. The Swedish authority also has to be sure that the broadcasters established themselves in the United Kingdom to circumvent Swedish law. In regards to restrictions for TV advertising it is not only alcohol advertisement that is debated. For example, the United Kingdom has a ban on condom advertising and strict rules on advertisement of unhealthy food. The interest in protecting one s own TV audience from some type of advertising exposure is therefore an issue in different areas. In Norway, it is permitted to advertise gambling on TV and not alcohol which has led to a lower opposition to gambling advertisement than the resistance to alcohol advertising. NORWAY Alcohol marketing has been banned in Norway since 1975. Public health is an important reason for the ban, and the ban has a strong public support. The AVMSD is now being implemented also in Norway. Unlike in Sweden, the foreign broadcasters have confirmed that they will follow the Norwegian law and not open up for alcohol marketing. However, even though marketing of alcohol in Norway is banned, there is still a lot of alcohol exposure in media, as for example editorial information about alcohol in the newspapers. Product information on alcohol products has increased over the years while fewer articles are being written about the alcohol s downsides. It is more common with articles, or headlines, that claim alcohol to be healthy. An editorial side in a newspaper can be assumed to reach a different target than a full page ad, and according to the media experts, the editorial space is considered to have a larger value than the ad space. The representative from Blue Cross Norway argues that it seems to be a close cooperation between the journalists and the alcohol companies. Steinar Glimsdal, Blue Cross Norway, says Headlines about alcohol sells papers. Articles about alcohol sell alcohol
THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT The case of Lithuania Lithuania has restrictions on alcohol advertisement during day time in TV and radio and had scheduled a total ban for January 1st 2012. However, in 2011 alcohol companies and media started an advocacy campaign to eliminate the plans for the ban. This was done in a way that was perceived by many as unfair, the NGO s were for example not given the chance to express their opinions on the issue through media. It appears to be politically difficult for one member state in the EU to have a ban on alcohol marketing when other states do not. European Union The experiences from the making of a tobacco advertising directive were presented as an interesting parallel to alcohol. Tobacco advertising is banned by the EU through the tobacco advertising directive, adopted in 2003. It banned tobacco advertising in most forms of media and applies to advertising and sponsoring that is of cross border nature. Messages only exposed in one s own member state are governed by national legislation. The support for strict regulation of alcohol marketing is strong in the EU. More than three out of four of the EU citizens are positive to warnings on alcohol product packages and in commercials. There is also support for a ban on alcohol advertising targeting young people. Several member states have bans, time bans or strict content regulations for alcohol marketing on TV. When the panel compares alcohol and tobacco the risks of alcohol seems to be higher than the risks of tobacco even though the regulations of tobacco commercials are much stricter. The need of regulation for alcohol marketing is considered greater since the risks and costs of alcohol are calculated as higher, and the public awareness about the dangers of alcohol is lower. The ADMVSD bans all forms of audiovisual commercial communications for tobacco. However, regarding alcohol the directive does not go nearly as far which several of the participants at the seminar highlight as a problem. The directive only mentions that alcohol marketing cannot target youths, encourage overconsumption or imply that the alcohol consumption can increase sexual success. The European Commission report on the application of the AVMSD shows that 22 of the member states have, in some way, introduced stricter regulations on alcohol advertisements than the minimum rules in the directive.
CONCLUSIONS The seminar Alcohol marketing without borders a threat to national regulations? was arranged by IOGT NTO (Sweden) and Actis Norwegian policy network on alcohol and drugs (Norway). The two organisations saw the need to highlight the topic due to the changing reality in the field of alcohol marketing. As the seminar and this report have clearly showed, the AVMSD is a minimum standard, and there is a policy space for national regulations in addition to the AVMSD. IOGT NTO and Actis will therefore use this opportunity to remind policy makers in Sweden and Norway of the need to enforce the existing regulations on the topic, and recommend them to: Ensure a continuation of the existing ban on marketing of alcoholic beverages Put in place better law enforcement of the existing regulations to make sure marketing is regulated according to the national law Monitor the online reality, which will bring new challenges for enforcement of national regulations Furthermore, IOGT NTO and Actis encourage the Swedish authorities to proceed with the complaint on alcohol marketing exposed on Swedish TV channels. IOGT NTO and Actis would like to thank all the speakers for interesting input to the understanding on alcohol marketing and the audiovisual media services directive (AVMSD). anna Carlstedt President IOGT NTO Anne-Karin Kolstad Secretary General, Actis