Matt Lambert, CEO of the Portman Group – the alcohol social responsibility body and marketing regulator said:
“For 25 years the Portman Group’s Code has ensured that alcohol marketing is responsible, directed only at adults, and in the last revision we extended the remit to ensure that marketing does not particularly appeal to those who are vulnerable.
“The reasons that a small minority of people drink at the highest harm levels are particularly complex, so it would be a mistake to say that marketing in and of itself will result in increased drinking when it is targeted support that is required.
“In terms of children’s exposure to alcohol advertising, the evidence is that children are seeing less. The Advertising Standards Authority shows that children’s exposure to TV ads for alcohol is falling at a faster rate than their exposure to all TV ads, making up just 0.9% of the adverts seen by children. Companies also ensure responsibility in the digital sphere, where the industry have worked closely with social media companies to create Digital Guiding Principles to improve age screening, enabling users to opt out of alcohol marketing, and allowing content creators to age-gate posts.”