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Alcohol Beverages Advertsising Code - June 2007

The Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (PDF 40kb)
ABAC 2006 Annual Report (PDF 268kb)

Preamble
Australian Associated Brewers Inc, the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia Inc and the Winemakers Federation of Australia are committed to the goal of all advertisements for alcohol beverages, other than point of sale material, produced for publication or broadcast in Australia complying with the spirit and intent of this Code.

The Code is designed to ensure that alcohol advertising will be conducted in a manner which neither conflicts with nor detracts from the need for responsibility and moderation in liquor merchandising and consumption, and which does not encourage consumption by underage persons.

The conformity of an advertisement with this Code is to be assessed in terms of its probable impact upon a reasonable person within the class of persons to whom the advertisement is directed and other persons to whom the advertisement may be communicated, and taking its content as a whole.

Definitions
For the purpose of this Code –

adult means a person who is at least 18 years of age;

alcohol beverage includes any particular brand of alcohol beverage;

adolescent means a person aged 14-17 years inclusive;

Australian Alcohol Guidelines means the electronic document ‘Guidelines for everyone (1-3)’ published by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) as at 1st January 2004.

child means a person under 14 years of age; and

low alcohol beverage means an alcohol beverage which contains less than 3.8% alcohol/volume.

Advertisements for alcohol beverages must –

a) present a mature, balanced and responsible approach to the consumption of alcohol beverages and, accordingly –

i) must not encourage excessive consumption or abuse of alcohol;

ii) must not encourage under-age drinking;

iii) must not promote offensive behaviour, or the excessive consumption, misuse or abuse of alcohol beverages;

iv) must only depict the responsible and moderate consumption of alcohol beverages;

b) not have a strong or evident appeal to children or adolescents and, accordingly –

i) adults appearing in advertisements must be over 25 years of age and be clearly depicted as adults;
ii) children and adolescents may only appear in advertisements in natural situations (eg family barbecue, licensed family restaurant) and where there is no implication that the depicted children and adolescents will consume or serve alcohol beverages; and

iii) adults under the age of 25 years may only appear as part of a natural crowd or background scene;

c) not suggest that the consumption or presence of alcohol beverages may create or contribute to a significant change in mood or environment and, accordingly –

i) must not depict the consumption or presence of alcohol beverages as a cause of or contributing to the achievement of personal, business, social, sporting, sexual or other success;

ii) if alcohol beverages are depicted as part of a celebration, must not imply or suggest that the beverage was a cause of or contributed to success or achievement; and

iii) must not suggest that the consumption of alcohol beverages offers any therapeutic benefit or is a necessary aid to relaxation;

d) not depict any direct association between the consumption of alcohol beverages, other than low alcohol beverages, and the operation of a motor vehicle, boat or aircraft or the engagement in any sport (including swimming and water sports) or potentially hazardous activity and, accordingly –

i) any depiction of the consumption of alcohol beverages in connection with the above activities must not be represented as having taken place before or during engagement of the activity in question and must in all cases portray safe practices; and

ii) any claim concerning safe consumption of low alcohol beverages must be demonstrably accurate;

e) not challenge or dare people to drink or sample a particular alcohol beverage, other than low alcohol beverages, and must not contain any inducement to prefer an alcohol beverage because of its higher alcohol content; and

f) comply with the Advertiser Code of Ethics adopted by the Australian Association of National Advertisers.

g) not encourage consumption that is in excess of, or inconsistent with the Australian Alcohol Guidelines issued by the NHMRC.

h) not refer to The ABAC Scheme, in whole or in part, in a manner which may bring the scheme into disrepute.

Internet advertisements
The required standard for advertisements outlined in (a) to (h) above applies to internet sites primarily intended for advertising developed by or for producers or importers of alcohol products available in Australia or that are reasonably expected to be made available in Australia, and to banner advertising of such products on third party sites.

Retail Advertisements
Advertisements which contain the name of a retailer or retailers offering alcohol beverages for sale, contain information about the price or prices at which those beverages are offered for sale, and which contain no other material relating to or concerning the attributes or virtues of alcohol beverages except –

i) the brand name or names of alcohol beverages offered for sale;

ii) the type and/or style of the alcohol beverages offered for sale;

iii) a photographic or other reproduction of any container or containers (or part thereof, including any label) in which the alcohol beverages offered for sale are packaged;

iv) the location and/or times at which the alcohol beverages are offered for sale; and

v) such other matter as is reasonably necessary to enable potential purchasers to identify the retailer or retailers on whose behalf the advertisement is published,

must comply with the spirit and intent of the Code but are not subject to any process of prior clearance.

Promotion of alcohol at events
Alcohol beverage companies play a valuable role in supporting many community events and activities. It is acknowledged that they have the right to promote their products at events together with the right to promote their association with events and event participation. However, combined with these rights comes a range of responsibilities. Alcohol beverage companies do not seek to promote their products at events which are designed to clearly target people under the legal drinking age.

This protocol commits participating alcohol beverage companies to endeavour to ensure that:

• All promotional advertising in support of events does not clearly target underage persons and as such is consistent with the ABAC standard; and

• Alcohol beverages served at such events are served in keeping with guidelines, and where applicable legal requirements, for responsible serving of alcohol (which preclude the serving of alcohol to underage persons); and

• Promotional staff at events do not promote consumption patterns that are inconsistent with responsible consumption, as defined in the NHMRC Guidelines; and

• Promotional staff do not misstate the nature or alcohol content of a product; and

• Promotional staff at events are of legal drinking age; and

• Promotional materials distributed at events do not clearly target underage persons; and

• Promotional materials given away at or in association with events do not connect the consumption of alcohol with the achievement of sexual success; and

• Promotional materials given away at or in association with events do not link the consumption of alcohol with sporting, financial, professional or personal success; and

• Promotional materials given away at events do not encourage consumption patterns that are inconsistent with responsible consumption, as defined in the NHMRC Guidelines; and

• A condition of entry into giveaways promoted by alcohol companies at or in association with events is that participants must be over the legal drinking age; and Prizes given away in promotions associated with alcohol beverage companies will only be awarded to winners who are over the legal drinking age.

Third Parties
At many events alcohol companies limit their promotional commitments to specified activities. This protocol only applies to such conduct, activities or materials associated with events that are also associated with alcohol beverage companies. Alcohol beverage companies will use every reasonable endeavour to ensure that where other parties control and/or undertake events, including activities surrounding those events, they comply with this protocol. However non-compliance by third parties will not place alcohol beverage companies in breach of this protocol.

Public Education
This protocol does not apply to or seek to restrict alcohol beverage companies from being associated with conduct, activity or materials that educate the public, including underage persons, about the consequences of alcohol consumption and the possible consequences of excessive or underage consumption.

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