Alcohol Marketing Regulation Report 2015
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Alcohol Marketing Regulation Report 2015 The Portman Group Codes of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks 1 2 Contents About the Portman Group 02 Foreword by the Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel 03 Chief Executive's Report 04 The Portman Group Codes 06 Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks 06 Code of Practice on Alcohol Sponsorship 07 How the Codes Work 08 Acting on Complaints 10 Fast Track Resolution 10 Investigation by the Independent Complaints Panel 11 Investigation Process 12 Products Investigated by Code Rule 14 Enforcement 15 Retailer Alert Bulletins 15 Independent Complaints Panel Decisions 16 Products • Beavertown Brewery: Gamma Ray 17 • Diageo Bauble Cocktail Co-Promotion with Greene King 20 • Corinthian Brands (CBL) Ltd: Dragon Soop 500ml Can 22 • Harwood Drinks: MMWAH 5 x 20ml bottles mixed flavour alcoholic drinks 24 Advisory Service 26 Training 30 Code Governance 32 The Independent Complaints Panel 34 Code Signatories 36 1 About the Portman Group The Portman Group is the responsibility body for drinks producers in the UK. Established in 1989 by the UK’s leading drinks producers, our role is to: Lead on best practice Regulate the Challenge and on alcohol social promotion and encourage the responsibility packaging of alcoholic industry to market its drinks sold or marketed products responsibly in the UK through our Codes of Practice We are a not-for-profit organisation funded by eleven member companies who represent every sector of drinks production and collectively account for more than half the UK alcohol market. Our current members are: AB InBev UK; Bacardi Brown-Forman Brands UK; Carlsberg UK; Diageo GB; Heineken UK; Mast-Jägermeister; Molson Coors Brewing Company UK; Pernod Ricard UK; SAB Miller; SHS Drinks; Treasury Wine Estates. About this Report This report covers the regulatory activity undertaken by the Portman Group in the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015. There were six complaints. Four were investigated by the Independent Complaints Panel and two were resolved via Fast Track. The report includes rulings made by the Independent Complaints Panel and the launch of the CPD certified Alcohol Marketing Accreditation and Online Training platform. We are a not-for-profit organisation funded by eleven member companies who represent every sector of drinks production and collectively account for more than half the UK alcohol market. 2 Foreword Foreword by the Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel, Jenny Watson This year, the Panel has ruled on four complaints and, while the numbers may have been low, each and every decision is vitally important for producers and complainants alike. The Panel is the independent arbiter I believe it's vital to have of the Portman Group Codes and is acutely aware that an upheld decision can result in a costly rebrand or even conversations about both reformulation of a product so decisions are never taken the Code and the Panel lightly. Each case is considered thoroughly by the eight members of the Panel and I hope our decisions continue to ensure that we remain to be trusted by those inside and outside the industry. accessible and accountable. Jenny Watson In 2015, we received a complaint about one of the new generation of craft beers, Beavertown’s Gamma Investigating complaints formally is not the only way to Ray. As this report explains, the complainant argued resolve cases. I was encouraged by the increasing use that the beer’s colourful vintage sci-fi cartoon design of the Fast Track process, now in its second year. In and packaging in a 330ml can had particular appeal to two cases this year, complaints were resolved quickly children and could be mistaken for a soft drink. The Panel and efficiently, which was in the interest of both the also considered whether the imagery associated alcohol complainants, producers and the public. Details can be with violence. After a lengthy and considered debate, the found on the Portman Group website. Panel did not uphold the complaint. However, regardless of the outcome, this case raises a challenge for both craft In January 2015, the Portman Group hosted its annual brewers and the Portman Group; to help small producers Code Signatories Forum. It’s an event which provided a avoid their drinks being considered potentially in breach welcome opportunity for me to meet all the stakeholders of the Code. For emerging producers, who may not be who have agreed to be bound by the provisions of versed in the Code, they will need to strike a balance the Code. Following presentations and roundtable between the desire for their products to stand out on discussions by the Portman Group, I enjoyed the chance shelves and complying with the strict rules of the Code. to answer questions from delegates about the Panel. The challenge for the Portman Group is to provide the I believe it’s vital to have these conversations about information and guidance to small and independent both the Code and the Panel to ensure that we remain brewers and so help them avoid being subject accessible and accountable. to complaints. Finally, I would like to express my profound thanks to It is interesting to note that half of the complaints Panel members Fiona Lewis and Stephen Robinson who considered by the Panel in 2015 were made by stepped down after six years. Both served the Panel with organisations with a direct interest in reducing alcohol a robust intelligence and a good deal of common sense harms. This trend should act as a warning to producers as well as offering invaluable insight about young people that the alcohol industry remains under intense scrutiny from their careers in secondary school education. I am from individuals and organisations that actively search for looking forward to welcoming our new members Rachel products and packaging that fails to adhere to the rules. Childs, Daniel Jourdan and Philip Wright in 2016. 3 Report Report by Chief Executive of the Portman Group, Henry Ashworth The protection of children from alcohol harm has always been at the heart of our Code of Practice. As we approach the 20th anniversary of the Code’s It is very encouraging to see that, in the last decade, inception, it feels like the right time to look at how it children’s drinking has been in steep decline. Official has helped reduce the appeal of alcohol to children, government figures show that, since 2003, the rates of contributing to the positive social trends over the last 11 to 15-year-olds drinking alcohol has fallen by over 20 years with fewer young people trying alcohol now 50%2 and is currently at the lowest rate on record. There than at any time since records began. has also been a significant decline in under-18 hospital admissions due to alcohol, falling by 41%3 in the last Back in the mid-90s, the industry faced a significant 6 years. challenge. More than half of secondary school pupils (64%)1 admitted to having drunk alcohol, and a new So what has caused this decline? When asked by range of brightly packaged drinks, dubbed ‘alcopops’ by YouGov in a survey for the think tank Demos in June the media, saw the industry accused of targeting under- 2015, two thirds (66%)4 of young people aged 16 to 18s and fuelling a binge-drinking culture in the UK. 24 said alcohol was either not very important or not at all important to their social lives. When asked what had The industry rose to government’s challenge to self- contributed to the decline, they most frequently cited: regulate, with the Portman Group introducing the awareness of the health consequences of drinking first Code of Practice in 1996 to stop ‘brand names, (66%)5, alcohol being harder to get hold of for under- packaging or merchandising… targeted at under-18s’. 18s (47%)6 and negative media portrayals of anti-social It demonstrated the industry’s commitment to ensuring behaviour linked to drinking (46%)7. alcohol was not marketed to children. In the years following, the rules have been refined so that today, in Business has worked as committed partners to both the 5th edition of the Code, rule 3.2(h) states that ‘a local and central government to drive down underage drink, its packaging or promotional material or activity drinking. Most noticeable are the Challenge 25 and should not… have a particular appeal to under-18s’. Challenge 21 schemes rolled out widely by retailers and bars across the country that make it much harder Since 1996, the Portman Group has received 129 for young people to buy alcohol. More recently, complaints under rule 3.2(h) of the Code about schemes such as Community Alcohol Partnerships drinks appealing to children. The Independent bring together retailers and licensees, trading Complaints Panel has upheld 63 of those complaints. standards, police, health services, education providers These drinks have been repackaged or removed and other local stakeholders, to tackle underage from shelves of supermarkets and wholesalers drinking through education and diversionary activities. who, as Code Signatories, agree not to re-stock Additionally, the drinks industry provides £5m funding a product in its current form after a period of 3 annually for the Drinkaware charity, giving information months following the publication of a Retailer Alert and education materials to children, their parents and Bulletin. Furthermore, the decisions have provided teachers. Recently drinks companies have provided clear guidance to all producers about what is and is start-up funding for LEAF (LifeSkills Education and not acceptable. Alcohol Foundation) that delivers Department for 4 It is very encouraging to see that, in the last decade, children's drinking has been in steep decline.