Part 2: No/lo alcohol products - what role do they play in reducing alcohol harm?

Alcohol marketing regulations are failing to protect children because of clever brand sharing tactics.

Partial advertising bans on the sports field and television are easily bypassed. Global alcohol companies use zero alcohol products that look identical to their master brands to maintain continuous brand exposure. Addressing this issue requires examining how youth perceive these ads and exploring the power of comprehensive policy restrictions.

This discussion features two prominent academic researchers who investigate public health policy. Dr Richard Purves is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Stirling who studies sports sponsorship. Dr Frank Houghton is a Lecturer and Principal Investigator at the Technological University of the Shannon who specialises in alcohol and gambling marketing.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

• Youth perception of zero alcohol sports sponsorship in Scotland
• The rise of brand sharing to bypass marketing restrictions
• Policy lessons from regulatory frameworks across six European countries
• Parallels between zero alcohol marketing and state lottery advertising
• Why comprehensive bans work better than complex partial regulations

GUEST DETAILS

Dr Richard Purves is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Stirling who specialises in commercial alcohol marketing and youth sports sponsorship. He has conducted extensive focus groups with young people and synthesised international evidence for the World Health Organisation

Contact:

Email: r.i.purves@stir.ac.uk

Link to Richard’s research mentioned in today’s podcast:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395925004049

Dr Frank Houghton is a Lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon who leads the Tobacco, Alcohol, and Gambling Research Group. He specialises in regulatory enforcement, public health policy, and multinational research collaborations across Europe. frank.houghton@tus.ie

Contact :

Email: frank.houghton@tus.ie

Link to Frank’s research mentioned in today’s podcast:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398319773_REGLEMENTATION_DU_MARKETING_AUDIOVISUEL_ET_NUMERIQUE_DE_L'ALCOOL_DANS_SIX_PAYS_EUROPEENS_RESUME

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Alcohol Action Ireland’s work in this area:

Zero-alcohol products - Alcohol Action Ireland

If you are looking for support visit the link below or call HSE Drug and Alcohol Helpline 1800459459

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/5/addiction/drugshivhelpline

Counselling phone line: https://connectcounselling.ie/

Alcohol Action Ireland Toolkit: https://alcoholireland.ie/our-work/campaigns/silent-voices/toolkit/

QUOTES

A comprehensive ban is really the only way where you can really tackle this. - Dr Richard Purves

Enforcement seems to be a real issue across the board. - Dr Frank Houghton

They were just drawn to that core branding, and that's it. - Dr Richard Purves

Potential, and this was confirmed in our research, for Nolo to actually be sort of an entry route into full-strength alcohol. - Dr Frank Houghton

KEYWORDS

#ComprehensiveMarketingRestrictions#ZeroAlcoholSportsSponsorship#BrandSharingLoopholes

#AlcoholAdvertisingBans

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