Alcohol Advertising in the UK: A Critical of Ethical Issues and Debates - Case Study Example

Alcohol Advertising in the UK: A Critical Study of Ethical Issues and Debates Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Theoretical background 3 Advertisements by the Aston Manor Brewery Company Ltd 5 Advertisements by the Cider of Sweden Ltd  8 Advertisements by the Cell Drinks Company 9 Advertisements by the Wild Cape Liqueurs Ltd  10 References 12 Introduction Alcohol advertising is a sensitive topic due to the societal and ethical concerns associated with the consumption of alcohol. The societal issues related to alcohol consumption like binge drinking and underage drinking make the alcohol advertisements pass through a number of scrutinizes and reviewing (Caswell, 2004). The ethical and societal concerns of alcohol consumption are closely related to the advertisements of these products and more than often, many advertisements are banned by the government or international authorities who review and allow the publishing of these advertisements. The compliance of alcohol advertisements, either in print, visual or audio media is a necessity for both the locally and internationally functioning breweries. These concerns remain high on the social and political agenda of a country because the alcohol advertisements are believed to have major effects on the consumer groups, especially the youths of a society. This case study is aimed at analyzing the critical issues that have been faced by the alcohol advertisements placed by some of the famous breweries in the United Kingdom. For this purpose, four main advertisements have been chosen and critically discussed so as to identify the main reasons which led to non-compliance followed by the ban on these advertisements to be published for public viewing. These advertisements are of Aston Manor Brewery Company, Cider of Sweden Limited, Cell Drinks and Wild Cape Liquors Limited. Theoretical background The utilitarianism grounds of ethics are actively implied in the advertisements and promotions of every product and service. These ethical grounds are especially significant for consideration in case of products and services like alcohol, cigarettes, gambling etc. because of the moral, social, ethical and hazardous effects that are inherently associate with them. The advertisements of alcohol and other similar products are carefully evaluated and reviewed by considering all the possible negative implications of these on the minds of the target audience groups. The contents, messages and the images included in the print, visual or audio advertisements are reviewed so as to prevent the circulation of any kind of socially harmful and derogative viewpoint among the audience groups. Both the forms of ethics including utilitarianism which involves the concerns for moral responsibility and the deontological ethics perspective which involves the consideration of then right and wrong of an action are to be essentially considered while designing and developing an advertisement related to sensitive products like alcohol. Since, advertisements are the bridge of communication between a company and the target consumer groups, therefore, it is necessary to evaluate and monitor that the companies do not use the mode to promote any kind of unethical behaviour among the entities of a society. The health of a society and community largely depends on what factors the entities of a society are exposed to and therefore, the exposure to the health and other risk bearing products like alcohol should be adequately monitored and controlled. This is the main reason why the advertising of alcoholic beverages is tightly regulated and reviewed in most of the developed countries. The United Kingdom, being a highly developed country, has established rules and regulations to monitor every industry in the nation. The government of the country has also developed and implemented strict regulatory requirements and codes of conduct with respect to the brewery industry. As a part of these regulations, major restraints and codes of conduct have been imposed on the advertising and marketing of alcoholic products in the market (Sandberg, Gidlöf and Holmberg, 2011). Advertisements by the Aston Manor Brewery Company Ltd The Aston Manor Brewery Company Limited released a series of videos as a part of their initiative to promote a cedar drink of the brand. This series of videos were posted on the YouTube Page of Frosty Jack. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the United Kingdom judged and reviewed the advertisements and banned the same on the grounds that the advertisement promoted irreverent and juvenile behaviour that were likely to affect the consumer groups, especially the young consumers in a negative manner (Chen, 2005). The advertising rules and standards in the United Kingdom as set and reviewed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are one of the strictest ones in the globe. As such, the board reviews and closely securitizes every advertisement that is related for the public viewing purposes on different media platforms. The advertisements of alcohol are especially sensitive to the social and ethical concerns and thus, are more strictly reviewed by the authority by considering all the legal, moral, societal, ethical as well as political implications of the same. The rules of advertising alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom are based on the evidences related to the link between the responses and attitudes of people towards drinking and alcohol advertising, as placed on different promotional media and channels (Dring and Hope, 2001). Accordingly, the standards and rules of alcoholic beverages advertisements are prescribed and enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the United Kingdom. The existing rules are further tightened in the year 2005 and are revenue and evaluated on a periodic basis with the aim of remaining subjective to the full social and public consultation De Waal Malefyt, 2012). The stringent rules of alcohol advertising apply across all types of promotion media and channels and mandatory place proper consideration and emphasis on the protection of the society from the derogatory and misleading influences of any of these advertisements (Winpenny, 2012). The advertisements placed by the Aston Manor Brewery Company Limited on YouTube, were non compliant in terms that they were not directed at the youth groups under 18 years of age. The advertisements were also hugely criticized on the basis of the other content evaluation factors. These advertisements were identified to be deliberately promoting irresponsible and juvenile behaviours in the society and indirectly linked alcohol consumption with sexual attractiveness, immoral and irresponsible attribute and social success (Light & McGrath, 2010). The videos of the company were posted on the Frosty Jack’s page on YouTube in 2012 with the aim of promoting and advertising a cider drink; these included an internet video advertisement which was titled as “Anti–wasp” which featured a person killing a wasp through the use of lighter and aerosol. Another video of the series includes an advertisement which was titled as “Anti gimmicky” in which a man was featured who was talking about the different attributes of his automobile in a highly exaggerated manner. The third video advisement of the series was titled as “Anti Busybody and Anti Controversial". This video featured the protagonist parking his car in disabled area and when questioned regarding his incompliant behaviour by another man, the person said that he had Totretts and also shouts “Twat”. These advertisements were severely alleged to be violating the advertising rules related to the alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom. According to the issues raised by the members of the Alcohol Concern’s Youth Alcohol Council, the advertisement was likely to appeal to the youths under the age of 18 , because , the first video of the advertisement series displayed a person behaving in a juvenile, irresponsible and adolescent manner. The second video was criticized due to its appeal to the youth age groups less than 18 years. The third video of the series was alleged to have high found derogatory influences on the behaviours of all age groups of consumers of alcoholic beverages within the society (European Centre for Monitoring of Alcohol Advertising, 2012). The judgment passed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) forced the company to remove the advertisements from the public viewing domains like their own corporate websites, video sites like Youtube.com as well as the other social media sites. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted that these advertisements did not actually contribute to the branding of the company or the promotion of the actual products of the company. Instead it was a completely user generated advertising content (Advertising Standards Authority, 2012). However, since the videos were released on the Frosty Jack’s page on YouTube, therefore, these were deemed as the direct material promotions of the brewery. The videos were banned because these advertisements were considered to be portraying cruel and juvenile behaviours and it was identified that the actions displayed in the advertisements promoted ‘laddish’ and irreverent behaviours which may have severe negative impacts on the young age groups of the society of the United Kingdom (Thomsen and Fulton, 2012). The advertisements were considered to be responsible for the breach of code in relation to the advertisement of alcoholic beverages in the country. On that point, the advisement series was taken out from the public viewing platform and the company faced major repercussions for the irresponsible behaviours in advertising of a socially sensitive product (Leiss, Kline, Jhally and Botterill, 2005). Advertisements by the Cider of Sweden Ltd  The advertisements released by Cider of Sweden Limited can be identified to be violating the utilitarian approach of ethical conduct because these advertisements promoted irresponsible and unsocial behaviour which could influence the consumers of alcohol to display similar kinds of attitude and ever after the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The advertisement of an alcoholic beverage of the brewery Cider of Sweden Limited showed a crowd of young people to be consuming the beverage and dancing in a nightclub with loud music. The people factor of the advertisement the society was found to be misleading and disruptive of the social and moral norms followed in the country. Though, it was not found anywhere in the advertisement that the protagonists were behaving unsociably due to the consumption of alcohol, yet the indirect impact of the advertisement seemed to be unacceptable according to the ethical compliance requirements of the country (De Mooij, 2010). The nightclub theme of the advertisements was especially appealing to the young age groups and the suggestive message of the ad that “Find the crowd who thinks every night is a Friday night” was deemed to promote the idea that the viewers should seek to find excitement and fun in every aspect of life. The overall impression of the advertisement was found to be irresponsible and immoral according to the standards of the advertising and society as followed in the United Kingdom. As per the final judgment of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the United Kingdom, these advertisements portrayed a highly non ethical and non compliant moral and were banned due to these factors based on both public and government scrutiny (Duffy, 2011). The breach of social responsibility and alcohol advertising message constraints were the main factors which were identified to be the causes for the ban of the advertisement and also suggested that the company had violated the Utilitarianism and deontological principles of ethics (Babor, 2010). Advertisements by the Cell Drinks Company This advertisement featured a free runner who was jumping over and around high rise buildings. These kinds of advertisements were criticized and banned for several other products as well in the past because of the excessive risk taking behaviour that they instigated among the viewers of the same. The advertisements showed the free runners doing an impossible task which if practically attempted was likely to lead to sever repercussions like accidents and deaths (Trottier, 2011). Since, the commercials were highly attractive in viewing and excitement terms, therefore, the risk factors associated with them were also higher. The ethical factor related to the promotions were severely questioned which resulted in strict scrutiny of the advertisement done by the government of the country. Already, the problem of utilitarianism is deeply associated with alcohol as a product because of the non moral image of alcohol and because of the proven view that people often include in unsocial or unacceptable behaviours under the influence of alcoholic beverages (Christofides, Muise and Desmarais, 2009). The advertisement posted by Cell Drinks Company was alleged to further the risk factors associated with the drinking of alcohol and as such the company was also accused of conducting their advertising and marketing processes in a socially irresponsible and intrinsically immoral manner. The advertisement seemed to promote the violation of both utilitarianism and deontological ethics and was criticized because of being morally unacceptable and misleading in content. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) passed the decisions that these advertisements of the Cell Drinks Company placed on YouTube and other social media sites were a breach of the code of conduct as specific for the alcohol advertisements because they promoted an irreverently risky behaviour among the audience groups for the advertisements (Hastings and Brooks, 2010). Advertisements by the Wild Cape Liqueurs Ltd  Another advertisement chosen for the case study is the advertisement of the alcoholic beverage brand of the well known international brewery, Wild Cape Liqueurs Limited. This advertisement was posted by Wild Cape Liqueurs Limited in a trade magazine in 2011, which showed a couple embracing in a seductive manner. The arm of the woman in the advertisement was covered with leopard skin which was similar to that of the liquor bottle of the alcoholic beverage that was being promoted by the company. The scratch marks appearing next to the message that “Unleash your wild side" and the message that stated that every person has a wild side in their personalities were sexually suggestive in nature. As such, the alcohol concern members in the country objected to the advertisement on the grounds that alcohol consumption was linked to sexual activity, seduction or sexual success in the contents of the print advertisement. Also, challenges were raised in relation to whether the advertisement was aiming to imply a direct linkage between enhanced mood and alcohol consumption (Nelson, 2012). The advertisement posted by Wild Capers Liquors Limited was unacceptable according to the social norms of the country as well as the standards placed by the advertising authorities in the United Kingdom. This advertisement was found to be sexually suggestive in its contents and message which was why the advertisement was alleged to be severely promoting seduction to be associated with alcohol consumption. The advertisement was rejected and banned on the grounds that it promoted unethical behaviour and was likely to instigate unsocial and immoral behaviour among the consumer groups. The advertisement was non compliant when evaluated on the moral and utilitarian grounds and was labelled to be unfit for promoting in the public domain. This advertisement was criticized and unaccepted as per the government and public reviews in the country because it breached the code of conduct related to the prevention of advertisements which related alcohol with seduction or any others sexually suggestive implications (Tapert, Cheung, Brown, Frank, Paulus, Schweinsburg, Meloy and Brown, 2003). Thus, it can be found out the challenges associated with the advertising of alcoholic beverages are multiple and dynamic in nature. It can be identified from the analysis of the different alcoholic product advertisements as done above, that the advertisers of these products have to carefully assess and evaluate the risk factors associated with the promotional and advertising processes and design the advertisements in a compliant and ethical manner (Dwyer, Hiltz & Passerini, 2007). Also, the regulatory bodies and the governments of the respective countries also have to focus on the evaluation and review of how well the contents and messages of the advertisements fit the norms of the society. These are necessary for the development of a healthily functioning society in a country. As per the case study analysis, it can be seen that the authorities of the United Kingdom, like the ASA have been particularly active in dealing with these kinds of issues related to the alcohol advertising in the country. References Advertising Standards Authority., 2012. Alcohol advertising. [Online]. Available at http://asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Alcohol.aspx#.VULvrtKqqkp. [Accessed on 30th April 2015]. Babor, T., 2010. Alcohol – no ordinary commodity: research and public policy, Second edition. Stanford: Cengage. Caswell, S., 2004. Alcohol – no ordinary commodity: research and public policy, Second edition. London: Cengage. Chen, M. J., 2005. 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