Business Research: Alcohol Marketing and Youth Consumption Analysis

This research report delves into the multifaceted relationship between alcohol marketing and youth consumption, focusing on the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. The study examines the evolving landscape of alcohol marketing, including the shift towards digital platforms and social media, and its impact on young people. It addresses critical research questions regarding the influence of alcohol marketing on youth alcohol consumption, current marketing regulations in the three countries, and the correlation between alcohol advertising and consumption among the youth. The report provides a literature review of relevant studies and regulations, discussing the evolution of marketing techniques and the ineffectiveness of current regulations. Furthermore, the study explores push and pull marketing theories and market orientation theory, as applied to the alcohol industry, offering insights into how alcohol companies target consumers and build brand loyalty. The report also analyzes the role of various marketing channels and media including television, radio, and digital platforms. It highlights the current regulations and the agencies that govern alcohol marketing. The report concludes with a discussion of how marketing strategies are evolving to influence consumer behavior and the increasing need for effective regulations.

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Introduction
Alcohol marketing is considered to be a global phenomenon which increasing number of
companies investing huge amounts on alcohol marketing. In today’s business scenario, alcohol
marketing, sponsorship and promotion has become widespread especially in UK, USA and
Australia (Alhabash et al. 2015). Exposure of alcohol marketing is directly influenced with
increased alcohol consumption especially among the youth generation. Marketing alcoholic
beverages increases the changes of earlier initiation of alcohol (Friberg & Sanctuary, 2018).
Further, the marketers need to focus on various laws and regulations concerning advertising and
marketing of alcoholic beverages. The research paper analyzes and discussion various literature
and studies to determine the ways in which alcohol marketing affects the alcohol consumption
among the youth generation.
Research questions
 Does Alcohol Marketing (through any media) affect the youth alcohol consumption?
 What are the current marketing regulations in UK? USA and Australia?
 What is the relationship between alcohol advertising and alcohol consumption among the
youth generation?
Literature review
Alcohol marketing is evolving at a constant rate. According to Critchlow et al., (2016).
the alcohol companies are implementing various marketing channels and media to remote and
advertise their alcohol brand including youth oriented television channels, radios, movies and
other TV shows. However, as per Ross et al., (2015), the marketing has taken a shift towards
digital platforms and social media platforms. It has been identified by Jernigan et al., (2017), that

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the efforts in the laws and regulations are incompetent and backgrounds as compared to the fast
rate of industry innovations. According to Stautz et al., (2016), alcohol is considered to be a
psychoactive substance with is associated with various negative consequences to the well being
and health of the consumers. The advertising and marketing of alcoholic beverages also affects
the behavior of the drinkers in the market. It is believed by Jones et al., (2016), that alcohol
consumption is highly increasing among the youth generation especially in developed countries
like UK, USA, and Australia. This has negative health consequences among the youth and
others.
Current marketing regulations
As mentioned by Ozkaya et al., (2015), In Australia, the government has a quasi
regulatory framework in order to protect the people and the youth generation from harmful
effects of alcohol marketing. There are certain schemes such as Alcohol beverages Advertising
(and Packaging) Code Scheme (ABAC), which functions and monitors the complaints regarding
advertising and marketing of Alcoholic beverages (Ozkaya et al., 2015). There are other schemes
and codes which contain certain restrictions including Australian Asocial of National Advertisers
(AANA) Code of Ethics; the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association
(ASTRA) Code of Practice; Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (CTICP) among
others. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency (ANPHA) reviews ad monitors the
marketing and promotional activities of the people focusing on the exposure of the marketing on
people (Dunlop, Freeman & Jones, 2016). the regulations and laws of the government have
limited scope, considering the new media marketing. The government has been incompetent to
penalize the advertisers upon the breaches of the regulations. In USA, there is a new agency
regulating the marketing of Alcohol and Tobacco laws, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade

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Bureau (TTB) (Critchlow et al., 2016). These agencies are responsible for enforcing and
administering the alcohol and tobacco advertising and promotions. The advertisers and marketers
of Alcohol companies need to consider the laws and regulations. Furthermore, as stated by
Ozkaya et al., (2015), there are advertising standards authority in UK, they also regulate and
monitor the advertisings and marketing in the UK. As per the advertising laws in UK, the ads for
alcoholic beverages must not support irresponsible drinking. Marketing is an essential part of
alcohol supply chain. As per the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the alcohol marketers spends
huge amounts on promotions such as sponsorships, point of sale materials, product placement,
brand logos, advertisings and others (Ross et al., 2015). According to Siegel et al., (2016),
marketing the products is highly essential for creating high barriers of entry. In order to maintain
their markets, it is evident, that the alcohol marketers invest heavily on promotion and
advertising to expand the market and encourage other drinkers to switch other brands of alcohol.
However, as per surveys and research, it has been identified by Stautz et al., (2016), that alcohol
consumption among the Americans has increased in the recent years, due to increase in the rate
of advertising and promotions of alcoholic beverages. As mentioned by Alhabash et al., (2016),
the consumption among the young people is more concentrated among small group of drinkers.
In the modern alcohol markets, promotions and advertising of alcohol are highly essential for the
product itself. Previously, alcohol was promoted in terms of price, brand identify, purity and
quality.
Theories and marketing models
Push and pull marketing
According to Jernigan et al., (2017), push marketing is considered to be a traditional form
of marketing where the marketers use various traditional forms of media such as direct mail,

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billboards, radio, television and other forms of traditional media to push the product to the
customers and enabling them to purchasing the product. On the other hand, the pull strategy is to
generate audience interest by putting the product and service to the customers who are already in
need of the customers. According to Jones et al., (2016), the customers recognize the need of the
product or the service and take actions to access the online reviews, recommendations, and
product information. Applying the theory on alcohol companies, they mainly implement push
strategies to reach the product to the potential customers. They advertise the products on various
media adhering to the laws and regulations of the government (Jernigan et al., 2017). The new
emerging companies are implementing push and pull strategy to increase the rate of conversions.
They combine the marketing elements such as email marketing, social media marketing and
other social media marketing strategy to reach to the potential customers.
Market orientation theory
The market orientation theory involves prioritizing the needs and desires of the
consumers and satisfying the needs of the consumers. It has been argued by Siegel et al., (2016),
that conventional approach is opposite to market orientation. The alcohol marketers focus on
creating key selling points to promote the products. According to Alhabash et al., (2016),
consumer trends and behavior is considered to promote the products and services in the market.
This enables the business organization to inspire improvements and enable them to focus on
product development.

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References
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J. I. (2016). Saw it on Facebook, drank it at the bar! Effects of exposure to Facebook
alcohol ads on alcohol-related behaviors. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 16(1), 44-58.
Alhabash, S., McAlister, A. R., Quilliam, E. T., Richards, J. I., & Lou, C. (2015). Alcohol's
getting a bit more social: when alcohol marketing messages on Facebook increase young
adults’ intentions to imbibe. Mass Communication and Society, 18(3), 350-375.
Critchlow, N., Moodie, C., Bauld, L., Bonner, A., & Hastings, G. (2016). Awareness of, and
participation with, digital alcohol marketing, and the association with frequency of high
episodic drinking among young adults. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 23(4),
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Dunlop, S., Freeman, B., & Jones, S. C. (2016). Marketing to youth in the digital age: The
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Friberg, R., & Sanctuary, M. (2018). The links between sales and retail distribution: An
overview and case study of alcoholic beverages. Applied Marketing Analytics, 3(4), 353-
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Jernigan, D., Noel, J., Landon, J., Thornton, N., & Lobstein, T. (2017). Alcohol marketing and
youth alcohol consumption: a systematic review of longitudinal studies published since
2008. Addiction, 112, 7-20.

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Jones, S. C., Robinson, L., Barrie, L., Francis, K., & Lee, J. K. (2016). Association between
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