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Alcohol Marketing Has Crossed Borders and Entered the Metaverse – How to Regulate Recent Digital Risks?
Jul
Newly created by the World Health Organization published report on regulating the cross-border marketing of alcohol is causing concern in countries like Australia and Recent Zealand given their reticence in advertising alcohol.
Alcohol is widely consumed in Australasia, but tensions remain over how far, if at all, the marketing of these products should be restricted.
Australia and Recent Zealand are at the unfettered end of the marketing continuum, with both countries relying on industry-led policies in the form of voluntary codes – an approach deemed insufficient by the WHO report.
What is cross-border alcohol marketing?
Alcohol marketing, created and distributed in one country and spread across borders to other countries, is widely used by multinational corporations seeking to escalate sales and normalize alcohol as an everyday product. Much of this advertising takes place in the digital media sphere.
The increased apply of these media platforms by alcohol corporations gives them access to economical advertising opportunities. Because just 2 US dollarsFor example, an advertising campaign conducted in Australia could reach a thousand juvenile people whose profiles indicate an interest in alcohol.
Digital media marketing has also increased the power of the message.
Brands interact with users on social media platforms, encouraging them to post, share and like. branded images and messagingGreater user engagement comes with more drinking.
Pavlo Gonchar/Getty Images
Targeting a unit
The increased power of these ads reflects the effectiveness of “personalized marketing.” Companies can now target ads to individuals and “lookalike” audiences.
This approach is possible thanks to the huge amount of data collected as a result of interactions, purchasing products, and indicating our interests and passions through clicks and likes.
This data is incredibly valuable to marketers and alcohol corporations. It gives them insight into the best time of day, the best brand of alcohol, and the best type of marketing message to send to us.
Read more: Alcohol ads have no place on our children’s screens
All social groups are bombarded with messages encouraging them to buy and consume alcohol.
Digital advertising can appeal to anyone: teenagers looking for brands that reflect who they are; juvenile adults, the biggest ‘occasional drinkers’ in Australia and Recent Zealand, some of whom develop drinking habits that can be tough to change later in life; and adults of all ages looking to reduce their drinking, often for health reasons.
Digital media has become a versatile marketing environment where the “buy” button – delivered to your doorstep and often without age or intoxication checks – provides a seamless marketing and distribution system.
In Recent Zealand, online sales increased significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown, especially among heavier drinkers.
Entering the Metaverse
The alcohol industry is now taking the initiative by entering the emerging market metaworldTo understand the metaverse, according to one commentatoryou should
Take today’s social media, add a dash of sophisticated 3D, add a ton of entertainment and gaming options, garnish it all with data-driven personalization, and you’re ready to take your share of the massive social network, the metaverse.
Read more: Recent Zealand children see more than 40 unhealthy adverts every day, time to change the marketing rules
In marketing terms, this opens up a fresh opportunity. The biometric data necessary for the virtual reality experience is also available for development “biometric psychography”, which allows for even greater advertising personalization.
Virtual alcohol brands created and leveraged by avatars in the metaverse will drive real-life brand loyalty, while virtual reality will transform e-commerce experiences and escalate sponsorship power.
AB InBev, the largest global alcohol corporation, was an early adopter of the metaverse. One of its brands, Stella Artoissponsors Australian platform Zed Run, where you can race, breed and trade virtual horses. Zed Run has seen 1000% growth in early 2021.
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Regulations aimed at reducing alcohol harm
The digital world is incredibly animated. It is also muddy to most policymakers and public health practitioners. It is telling that the WHO report does not refer to the metaverse as a cross-border marketing opportunity for alcohol.
There is an urgent need for a debate on how policymakers should better understand the risks associated with the targeted marketing of threatening products such as alcohol.
The WHO report outlines various partial and ineffective approaches to regulating digital media marketing.
Attempts such as Finland Regulations on user-shared content have failed because they fail to address the underlying architecture of social media platforms, which relies on engagement through shares and likes.
The most successful examples cited in the WHO report come from countries such as Norway, where a complete ban on alcohol marketing, including in digital media, has been introduced.
Read more: Six children’s health suffers due to lack of regulation of alcohol advertising in the industry
The report highlights the need for oversight and enforcement, and also suggests ways to penalize alcohol companies for marketing violations.
Support provided under international agreements such as Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is identified as a possible template for future discussions.
The response to tobacco marketing provides a good and largely effective model for officials and policymakers. That said, the public health goal for alcohol is not equivalent to the goal of smokelessness. Advocates are not trying to eliminate alcohol entirely.
However, there are parallel arguments for creating a healthier media environment through regulations that prevent the promotion of alcohol products using increasingly advanced technological and psychological tools.
These products are significant causes of low well-being, and this marketing increases consumption and therefore harm. The messages in the WHO report are timely and should be followed.
