2024-10-03 15:45:27
On the occasion of the publication of his report “Alcohol promotion: social networks, a new Wild West”l’association Addictions France shares very worrying results on the exposure of young people to alcohol marketing on social networks. “ The promotion of alcohol is omnipresent with very limited control possibilities and insufficient safeguards“. The association is calling for a ban on the promotion of alcohol on social networks and thus aligning regulations with those in force for television and cinema.
A worrying context
In France, alcohol consumption, although declining for several decades, remains at worrying levels. According to Santé Publique France, more than one in five people have excessive alcohol consumption. In January 2024, the‘OFDT has published figures on adolescent consumption : nearly 15% of 4th and 3rd grade students and more than a third of 17 year olds experienced an episode of binge drinking1 in the month preceding the survey2. This level of consumption is not trivial: 1st factor of hospitalization, 2nd cause of avoidable mortality, 2nd risk factor of cancer and road mortality, involvement in the development of 200 diseases… Consuming alcohol carries risks and generates a cost for society estimated at 102 billion euros per year3.
Insufficient prevention measures
To reduce the risks and damage linked to this consumption, the World Health Organization recommends 4 prevention measures deemed “cost effective”: reducing the accessibility of alcohol to minors; act on the price of alcohol; facilitate the identification of risky consumption by health professionals; strictly regulate the promotion of alcohol. The adoption of these recommendations should make it possible to create an environment favorable to health, particularly for the youngest. To limit the damage linked to alcohol, it is indeed a question of delaying as much as possible the age of first drinks, which are more likely to lead to significant consumption in adulthood. Young people increasingly exposed to the promotion of alcohol on social networks. In France, since 1991, the Evin law regulates the marketing of alcohol: it governs the content of these advertisements and limits the distribution media in order to protect, particularly young people, from being encouraged to drink. While Internet advertising was not originally planned, it was eventually authorized in 2009, allowing advertisements to run on social media even though more than 80% of adolescents and young adults, more influenceable, are present on these platforms.
Influencers at work
Between the promotion of alcohol by influencers, the development of attractive content associating alcohol with a positive emotion and targeted algorithms, alcohol marketing has become ubiquitous, interactive and constantly available. In two and a half years, the Avenir santé and Addictions France associations have identified more than 11,300 pieces of content promoting alcohol on social networks. Addictions France, which has carefully studied this content, notes that:
– brands and influencers encourage consumption4;
– social networks allow brands to push the boundaries of creativity to create ever more attractive advertising concepts5;
– the constant incitement to alcohol consumption hinders prevention actions aimed at young people, a subject on which the Government was committed to acting6.
The work of Addictions France show the limits of the current regulatory framework. Today it is impossible to be aware of all the alcohol content broadcast on the networks. While these publications reach millions of people, it is only after their dissemination, and when the damage has already been done, that actions are possible, with limited success. Let us remember that the law of June 9, 2023 governing the activity of influencers did not ban alcohol marketing on social media. As for the platforms, which bear responsibility for the content they host, the systems put in place to report illegal content provide mixed results: Instagram did not delete 45% of the content that was reported to it . On the justice side, the procedures launched by Addictions France are long and, when a sanction is pronounced, it is not very dissuasive. Social networks therefore continue to constitute a lawless zone, a “Wild West” which allows massive exposure of young people with content promoting alcohol. Yet this is what the Evin law sought to avoid. According to the EHESP, 79% of 15-21 year olds say they see alcohol advertisements every week on social networks. According to another OFDT survey, 23% admit that these advertisements made them want to drink.
“Behind the marketing challenge lie great commercial ambitions: to attract young customers to the detriment of their health. It’s time to open our eyes to the consequences of increased exposure to alcohol advertisements. »
What Addictions France asks for
In view of the work carried out by Addictions France, only one conclusion is necessary: ban the promotion of alcohol on social networks and thus align the regulations with those in force for television and cinema. This measure appears today to be the only one able to avoid encouraging consumption among particularly vulnerable populations. In addition, a real reflection on the applicability of the law will have to be carried out. If the formal ban on the dissemination of advertising in favor of alcohol on social networks will make it possible to prevent the dissemination of this content, a reinforced arsenal of measures to control content and sanction violators of the law must also be put in place. place.
1- Binge drinking or heavy occasional drinking (IPA) consists of drinking at least 5 glasses of alcohol on the same occasion.
2- Use of psychoactive substances among middle and high school students – EnCLASS 2022 results, OFDT, January 2024
3- OFDT, “The social cost of drugs: estimate in France in 2019”, July 2023.
4- Karine Gallopel-Morvan, Jacques-François Diouf, Nicolas Sirven, Erell Guégan, “Influence of messages in favor of alcohol broadcast on social networks. An experiment on 1917 young French people aged 15-21”, May 2023
5- Barry AE, Bates AM, Olusanya O, Vinal CE, Martin E, Peoples JE, et al., “Alcohol marketing on Twitter and Instagram : evidence of directly advertising to youth/adolescents.” Alcohol Alcohol. 2015.
6- See the Interministerial Strategy for mobilization against addictive behavior of the Interministerial Mission to Combat Drugs and Addictive Behavior.
• « Alcohol promotion: social networks, a new Wild West », September 2024, Association Addictions France report.
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