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Brands ‘avoid’ ad restrictions through Facebook
Researchers in Australia have claimed alcohol brands are turning to Facebook to avoid traditional advertising restrictions in the country.
A new study has claimed alcohol brands are increasingly turning to Facebook promotion to avoid advertising restrictions
A study commissioned by the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE) found that by the end of 2012, the top 20 alcohol brands in Australia had more than 2.5 million engaged followers on Facebook and posted more than 4,500 items of content, which in turn was interacted with more than 2.3 million times.
Brands were found to be regularly uploading content an average of four times a week, while FARE claimed that in the 16 months since the study concluded, alcohol brands with an Australian Facebook page have seen their fan bases grow 44%.
“The alcohol industry has developed an extensive, real-time culturally embedded mode of marketing on Facebook that continuously seeks engagement from fans,” said report author Dr Nicholas Carah, of the University of Queensland.
Dr Carah added that current regulation does not address consumer collaboration, only traditional modes of advertising.
“Our current regulatory frameworks see promotion and advertising as two distinct and separate areas, but on Facebook, we are seeing a merging of those two activities,” he said.
The study also noted the “global nature of alcohol marketing”, finding that Smirnoff and Absolut converted their Australian pages into global pages that reach 10.8 million and 4.8 million fans respectively.
Culturally embedded marketing
Dr Carah added that with the ability to reach millions of consumers without paying for traditional advertising, the alcohol industry can invest more in “culturally embedded” forms of marketing such as sponsorship, popular culture, viral content and real-world activations.
“Harnessing the power of Facebook, alcohol brands can shift their marketing resources to below- the-line activities that are less visible to authorities and regulators,” he said.
The study, called Like Comment Share: Alcohol brand activity on Facebook, was commissioned by FARE and conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland.
FARE’s CEO, Michael Thorn, said: “The current industry self-regulatory regime, as weak as it is, in dealing with traditional forms of alcohol advertising, was established in a pre-Facebook world, and as such, is simply not capable of addressing the types of aggressive and pervasive advertising and promotion that we see today so entrenched in Facebook.”