Social media ‘aggressively’ targets young drinkers

Alcohol producers are using social media to “aggressively” target young consumers and blurring the lines between drinking culture and sporting culture, a new study claims.

Alcohol producers are using social media to “aggressively” target young drinkers

According to the findings of the Merging sport and drinking cultures through social media study, funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and conducted by RMIT University, Melbourne, the industry “cleverly timed its posts” to coincide with major sporting events “top encourage consumption”.

Furthermore, the research also suggested social media strategies were “carefully developed” to do more than simply promote a product.

“The ultimate goal appears to be to merge the drinking culture with sport culture,” commented RMIT’s associate professor Kate Westberg, one of the authors of the study. “They seek to normalise consumption by using social media to present drinking as an integral part of the sport experience whether spectatorship, celebration or commiseration.”

Social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were analysed as part of the study and covered brands such as Wild Turkey, Jim Beam and Bundaberg Rum.

The authors described sport as a “powerful marketing platform” for the drinks industry, who used important sporting events to ask questions, use player endorsements and encourage people to go to the pub when a game is about to commence.

In addition, the research concluded the industry used social media to target consumers with product messages based on sporting identity, culture and camaraderie.

Sport-related “calls to action” were frequently adopted by brands, encouraging competition, collaboration, celebration and consumption among consumers to “stimulate” consumers as opposed to them “passively” receiving brand messages as with conventional forms of advertising.

“Alcohol’s marketing and sponsorship linkages are most apparent on our TV screens, but in fact, are just as insidious on social media where the alcohol industry has become increasingly sophisticated in the ways it ties its products to professional sport,” said Michael Thorn, FARE chief executive.

“Of concern, the online space is even less regulated than traditional media. Self-regulation isn’t working, it isn’t protecting children from harmful alcohol advertising and those harms will continue until such time that the Commonwealth Government steps in.”