Introducing EFRD s Common Standards for the responsible marketing of alcohol

Transcription

1 Introducing EFRD s Common Standards for the responsible marketing of alcohol To view this presentation, click on the box at the bottom of the screen, or select a topic from the menu bar at the top. 1

2 Why should you watch this presentation? To understand the Common Standards on alcohol-related communications To learn how to apply them in your commercial communications and To avoid potentially costly or embarrassing conflicts with advertising standards and other regulatory bodies 2

3 What will this presentation tell you? It will explain the thinking behind the Common Standards and how they were developed, show you how to apply them in your commercial marketing, and outline the main Do s and Don ts. Don t forget to use our other web tools: a self-test quiz, called Are your Common Standards aware? and a guide to evaluate existing or planned marketing activities, called Common Standards Diagnostic. 3

4 How to use this presentation This presentation will run by itself, but at certain points, you will be offered a menu to choose what to view next. Click on any option to continue. At any time, you can click on the top menu bar to jump to a different section. To end the presentation, close out of this window or click the stop button below. 4

5 Why have Common Standards? Click the box at the bottom of the slide to continue, or to select a topic from the menu bar at the top. 5

6 The drinks industry recognises that excessive or irresponsible consumption of alcoholic beverages can have personal, social or health consequences. EFRD, representing most of Europe s leading drinks companies, wants to help to ensure that commercial communications do not encourage or condone excessive consumption or misuse of any kind. This commitment to responsible advertising, marketing and promotions forms the basis of the drinks industry s self-regulatory efforts. The Common Standards are the codification of this commitment. They have been developed in Europe and are shared with European trade associations, but they are also offered as a code of good industry behaviour within the European Union and to serve as guidance in other areas, subject to the existence of local codes agreed locally. The Common Standards are not intended to replace national or company selfregulatory codes, but rather to provide a common, minimum set of rules which can be incorporated into existing codes as necessary. They automatically apply to the activities of EFRD member companies, although some EFRD companies use standards which go even further. 6

7 The history of the Common Standards goes back to 1994, when the forerunner to EFRD, the Amsterdam Group, produced its Guidelines for Commercial Communications on Alcoholic beverages. These Guidelines grew into the Common Standards in The Common Standards reflect many of the issues addressed by the European Council of Ministers in their 2001 statement, Recommendation on the Drinking of Alcohol by Young People, in particular Children and Adolescents. As commercial communication techniques and industry s environment have evolved, EFRD members decided in 2005 to revise the Common Standards while at the same time providing industry professionals with guidance on specific areas of commercial communications, for example, regarding point of sale promotions, internet marketing and sponsorship. The revised provisions of the Common Standards and these Guidelines form part of today s Common Standards. 7

8 EFRD s current set of Common Standards came into force on January 1, They have been endorsed by several European trade associations including the Confederation Europeenne des Producteurs de Spiritueux (CEPS) and the Association des Industries des Cidres et Vins de fruits de l U.E. (AICV). Eurocommerce,the European retail organization, is communicating the Common Standards to their members at a national level as a guide to best practice. 8

9 How the Common Standards work Click the box at the bottom of the slide to continue, or to select a topic from the menus. 9

10 Basic Principles Commercial communications are defined as any brand advertising or marketing communications aimed at consumers through any channel. All commercial communications must comply fully with EU, national, regional, local laws and any other relevant regulations. They must be legal, decent, honest and truthful, socially responsible, ethical and not impugn human dignity. The Common Standards should be observed in the spirit as well as to the letter. 10

11 Although statements to the media and educational responsible drinking campaigns are not considered commercial communications for the purposes of the Common Standards, we strongly recommend that they are written with the Standards in mind. We should be particularly careful when preparing media statements relating to brands and brand marketing. 11

12 We should always consider the sensitivities of the general public, since it is impossible to ensure that marketing is seen only by the target audience. We must assume that anyone and everyone could see an ad or promotion or Internet site, and bear this in mind when applying standards of good taste and decency. An area of especial sensitivity is children s television. The British TV commercial shown here received complaints of bad taste and being unsuitable for children. As a result, the advertiser agreed not to allow it to be aired before 9pm in the evening. 12

13 This print ad, shown in Hungary, may be seen acceptable by some but there is a risk that the wider public would consider it sexist and sexually provocative. As it happened, it did not receive a complaint from the public, but the local self regulatory organization perceived the ad as a violation of the dignity of women. 13

14 Where do the Common Standards apply? The Common Standards apply in every EU market to all brand advertising and marketing communications, regardless of medium or channel, including product naming, packaging and labelling, promotions and sponsorship. 14

15 In addition to the core Common Standards, EFRD has published a range of channel guides showing how the Common Standards apply to specific media and types of marketing. These guidelines are for Point-of-Sale promotions, for the internet and for sponsorship. Visit the EFRD website to download the full set. 15

16 When marketing alcohol beverages, there are a number of areas where we must be especially sensitive. We call these themes. The next part of this presentation considers each of these themes in detail. To jump straight to a particular theme, click on the appropriate button. Or click the box at the bottom of the slide to continue to the first theme. 16

17 MISUSE We should never appear to encourage excessive or irresponsible consumption. This means we should not encourage or condone drinking more than is appropriate to the individual shown in a commercial communication or in the context of the situation portrayed. People should never be encouraged to drink or be shown drinking excessively or beyond established health guidelines. In practice, this means Not showing too many drinks per person. Commercial communications should be about creating a positive brand experience, not about encouraging people, through images, actions or words, to exceed their limit. Not showing overly large servings. Servings should be realistic and moderate. Not showing overly fast drinking. Drinking should be shown as something to savour, not to get drunk. Not showing someone having multiple drinks unless it is clear there is a substantial time interval in between drinks. 17

18 Excessive drinking It may be appropriate for people to drink from a bottle if this is normal for the product concerned - for example, a single serving sized bottle of lager beer. However, special care should be taken to avoid the impression that the bottle is being emptied in a single draught. The angle of the bottle should not suggest that the drink is being gulped down. In the case of shots and shooters, it is particularly important to watch the number of drinks, serving size and drinking pace and duration. 18

19 Moderation Abstinence or moderation should never be presented in a negative way. We must never ridicule or appear to show people who choose not to drink or drink only limited amounts as uncool. Nor should people be challenged to drink. 19

20 Drunkenness We should not show people that appear to be drunk or in any way imply that drunkenness is positive or funny. Nor should we suggest that it is normal that someone ignores the effect of alcohol, has lost control of her or himself or has no control over associated risks. We should avoid portraying or encouraging irresponsible or excessive regular solitary drinking or suggesting that drinking can help overcome loneliness. 20

21 Violence Nothing in our commercial communications should ever associate drinking with violent, aggressive, dangerous or anti-social behaviour or encourage or condone such behaviour. When in doubt, we should err on the side of caution. Remember that anti-social behaviour can include other forms of behaviour that while not violent, might cause people distress, annoyance or inconvenience, either directly or indirectly. Humour is a potentially problematic area. Jokes are often culture-specific and do not travel well. It is also easy to cause offence to groups outside our target audience. 21

22 Drugs We must never associate alcohol with illicit drugs. We should not use any symbols, images from drug culture when communicating messages about alcohol. 22

23 MINORS Commercial communications should never be aimed at minors. We define minors as persons under the legal purchase age for alcohol. Just as important, marketing should not appeal primarily to minors. We should avoid the use of images, music, cartoon characters (pre-existing or specially created), personalities, celebrities and sports heroes or brands and products likely to appeal mainly to those under the legal purchase age. When in doubt, go back to the Basic Principles. We should ask ourselves whether we are complying with both the letter and the spirit of the Common Standards. 23

24 Audience When choosing advertising media for commercial communications, we should use only outlets where at least 70% of the audience can be reasonably expected to be above 18 years old or the legal purchase age, whichever is higher. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to check the composition of the media audience. This should be documented with up-to-date market-by-market audience data and doublechecked before the campaign or promotion. For outdoor posters, it can be difficult to ensure we are not hitting an inappropriate audience. To be on the safe side, do not place posters in locations clearly visible from the door or windows of a school. 24

25 Events and The Internet In case of public events, contractual provisions on admittance can be a useful check that the audience has the right age profile. For example, in cinemas, the rating given by the national film board is a reasonable guide. We should always avoid films that may have primary appeal to youth. The Internet requires special attention since it is almost impossible to exclude minors from visiting our sites. Nonetheless we can ensure compliance of websites as well as promotions on third party websites by requiring visitors to register and give their age. We should also avoid using or be associated with promotional games likely to appeal primarily to young people. 25

26 Models and actors Models and actors It is important to ensure that our commercial communications do not appear to show drinkers below the legal purchase age. Because models and actors often look It younger is important than their real age, to we ensure recommend that they our should commercial always be at least 25 years old. communications do not appear to show drinkers below the legal purchase age. Because models and actors often look younger than their real age, we recommend that they should always be at least 25 years old. 26

27 DRINK-DRIVING We need to be very careful to avoid suggesting that drinking and driving is acceptable. By driving, we mean being in control of any moving vehicle, including motorboats, jet-skis, snowmobiles - even bicycles. The simplest rule is, don t show drivers. A TV commercial treatment portraying people driving to a party will probably work just as well if they are shown arriving by taxi or on foot. If someone must be shown driving a vehicle before drinking, ensure that that person will not be shown driving again, ideally by showing them handing over their carkeys to a non-drinker. In the case of sponsorship, ensure there is no suggestion that drinking alcohol is acceptable before, or in conjunction with, risky activities. 27

28 HAZARDOUS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY Hazardous recreational activities are any potentially dangerous activities related to water (for example, swimming or steering a boat), snow (for example snowboarding) or heights (rock-climbing or mountaineering) or any other normally risky situations. We should never show drinking before or during those activities. If an association is essential, it should be clearly established that the drinking takes place only after the activity. Activities that would not necessarily be considered particularly hazardous may become so if participants have been drinking. We should therefore avoid associating drinking with the use of machinery, for example, a chainsaw or power drill. We should also avoid associating drinking with potentially hazardous activities that people might imitate in real life, for example, skate boarding or rollerblading, no matter how trendy or appealing the activities may be. 28

29 HEALTH ASPECTS We should avoid making any claims or suggestions of health benefits from consuming an alcoholic product or drinking in general. We should similarly be careful about associating a product or brand with the scientific and the medical world, for example, by portraying characters in white coats. The chances are that such an association could contravene the spirit, if not the letter, of the Common Standards. 29

30 Dieting Commercial communications that refer to a reduced carbohydrate content or calorific value of a drink should not imply that alcohol beverages can play a healthy role in maintaining or reducing weight, or that they can be a part of an exercise or fitness regime. While the Common Standards do not prohibit the use of truthful and accurate factual statements about nutritional content where permitted by law, we should not use such statements to imply that drinking leads to health or dietary benefits, or that people can consume some beverages excessively because they are less fattening. Nor should we associate drinking with weight maintenance or weight loss plans. These rules do not refer to non-advertising materials or statements to the media, government or the public concerning issues of societal concern, or containing educational messages. However we should take great care always to be accurate and balanced. 30

31 PREGNANCY We recommend that women who want to conceive, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, should not drink alcohol. In light of this, any association of drinking with pregnant women should be avoided, regardless of whether they are portrayed consuming alcohol or not. 31

32 ALCOHOL CONTENT Alcohol content or alcoholic strength should never be presented as the primary benefit of a brand, or be the main theme of the commercial communications activity. Although we can present information on alcoholic strength, we should not make claims which imply that a stronger drink is somehow preferable. Nor should we suggest that weaker alcoholic beverages will avoid abuse or mean that they can be drunk in excessive quantities. When flavours such as lemonade, fruit juices or other soft drinks are combined with alcohol, it should be made clear that the resulting beverage is still an alcoholic drink. 32

33 PERFORMANCE We should never suggest that drinking alcohol improves the ability to carry out tasks or improve physical or mental performance. We should choose carefully the activities portrayed in commercial communications. As well as avoiding suggestions that drinking is associated with performance, we need to ensure the activities shown are appropriate for people of legal purchase age to participate in or to watch. Bear in mind that many people do not consider sports and other celebrities can ever be ethically associated with drinking, and we certainly should not use celebrities that mainly appeal to minors. We should also establish the portrayal to show that the activity has clearly finished, for example, by focusing on the social gathering and celebration afterwards, or at the finish line. As a rule, we should avoid co-branding with products that are perceived as energizers, developing promotional materials carrying energy drinks branding, or entering into formal co-promotional arrangements with brands perceived as energizers. 33

34 SOCIAL SUCCESS There is no problem with showing a social atmosphere and people having a good time, but it is unacceptable to present drinking as a problem solver, as an aid to social acceptance, popularity and achieving social/ business /financial goals, or as an essential ingredient to having a good time or for removing shyness. Alcohol should never be presented as a requirement for status or for gaining admiration or recognition by third parties for example, in winning a competition. Similarly, the use of well-known personalities or product endorsers should not imply that the consumption of the specified brand or brands will help people be similarly successful. That said, aspirational advertising portraying a brand as a complement to good living, accomplishment or good taste does not violate the Common Standards and is allowed. 34

35 SEXUAL SUCCESS We should think very carefully if a commercial communications proposition has an overtly sexual theme. Be sensitive to the fact that what is perceived as a sexual theme will depend on culture and age-group and may vary from country to country. For example, there are wide variations in what is acceptable in the depiction of women, the use of nudity and public decency. 35

36 Seduction The expression sexual success is open to a number of different interpretations. By general agreement, we say that commercial communications should not: suggest that drinking or offering alcohol beverages, or the advertised brand, makes a person sexually more attractive; present drinking as an aid to seduction or as a means of removing sexual inhibitions; portray drinking as a preliminary to sexual intimacy; suggest that drinking enhances sexual performance; present drinking as a part of sexual activity, for example, showing people drinking before, during or after having sex; use settings that imply fairly obviously that after drinking there will be sex. 36

37 That ends the introduction to the Common Standards We hope you enjoyed this brief introduction and found it useful. To revisit any of the material, use the menu bar at the top. Why not explore our other on-line tools on this website - Common standards diagnostics, open you check that your marketing conforms to the rules; and - Are you common standards aware, a fun self-quiz on the issues and subtleties of marketing alcohol in a responsible way. Finally, if you have any questions or want reference materials and other resources please visit our website at 37