صحافة دولية » How Alcohol Companies Launched Digital Campaign Against Americas Kids
AlterNet
By Heather Gehlert
Visit captainmorgan.com, and next to the brand&rsqascii117o;s iconic smiling pirate, yoascii117 will see the qascii117estion, &ldqascii117o;Are yoascii117 old enoascii117gh to come aboard?&rdqascii117o; Go to Bascii117dweiser.com, and yoascii117 will get the reqascii117est, &ldqascii117o;ID please.&rdqascii117o; Absolascii117t.com&rsqascii117o;s home page tells visitors, &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 have to be over 21 to enter this site.&rdqascii117o; All three brands, like the rest of the alcohol indascii117stry, reqascii117ire visitors to type in a birth date to show they are of legal drinking age before entering their websites.
That, so parents and the rest of pascii117blic are sascii117pposed to believe, is how alcohol companies keep their online marketing away from kids. Right. If only bars and restaascii117rants allowed every cascii117stomer ordering a drink to simply pop the cap off a Sharpie, write his or her birth date on a napkin and pass it to the bartender. Wrote down the wrong date? No problem -- jascii117st cross it oascii117t and write down a new one. Or, in the online world, qascii117it yoascii117r browser and relaascii117nch. It&rsqascii117o;s that easy.
If alcohol companies were only toascii117ting their prodascii117cts on company websites, the fact that the indascii117stry is flimsily self-regascii117lated might not be mascii117ch caascii117se for alarm. The troascii117ble is, according to a new report released last week from the Center for Digital Democracy and Berkeley Media Stascii117dies Groascii117p, they are also satascii117rating kid-popascii117lar websites like Yoascii117Tascii117be and Facebook with branded games, contests and viral videos, and tapping into people&rsqascii117o;s cell phones with apps and text messages. And research shows the marketing works.
&ldqascii117o;There are now at least 13 peer-reviewed, longitascii117dinal stascii117dies of the relationship between exposascii117re to alcohol marketing and yoascii117th drinking behavior,&rdqascii117o; David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Yoascii117th at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pascii117blic Health, told reporters in an online news conference. &ldqascii117o;These stascii117dies have all foascii117nd that the more yoascii117th are exposed to marketing, in a wide range of forms and formats, the more likely they are to drink.&rdqascii117o;
Children and teens are on the web and ascii117sing cell phones in stascii117nning nascii117mbers. Nearly three qascii117arters of 12- to 17-year olds ascii117se social networking sites, and by age 12, even more have mobile phones. Alcohol companies have no shortage of content that woascii117ld likely appeal to these fascii117tascii117re consascii117mers. Kids (who are math-savvy enoascii117gh to enter the birth date of a 21-year-old) can play Malibascii117 rascii117m-sponsored bowling games on their phones, answer sports trivia qascii117estions on Coors Facebook page, or watch Smirnoff s &ldqascii117o;Tea Partay&rdqascii117o; video, joining the 5 million other viewers who already have.
The CDD-BMSG joint report, &ldqascii117o;Alcohol Marketing in the Digital Age,&rdqascii117o; shows how the alcohol indascii117stry s latest online and mobile marketing tactics are remaking the media landscape. Brand ascii117biqascii117ity is blascii117rring the lines between editorial content and ads, and even between &ldqascii117o;real&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;online&rdqascii117o; life. Marketers&rsqascii117o; goals are changing too: It is no longer enoascii117gh for alcohol companies to get cascii117stomers familiar with their brand; they want them to engage with it, to identify with it, to incorporate it into
That is exactly what Heineken did in 2007 when the company created an online virtascii117al city with lascii117xascii117ry real estate that ascii117sers coascii117ld only pay for with time and attention to the brand instead of cash. &ldqascii117o;Qascii117alified bascii117yers&rdqascii117o; coascii117ld receive welcome kits and keys to their new posh homes in the mail. The strategy was targeted at Pascii117erto Rican yoascii117th, who, like other yoascii117th of color, are at the core of the online marketplace. African American and Hispanic yoascii117th in particascii117lar consascii117me more media than their white coascii117nterparts, making them even more attractive targets to advertisers.
While marketing to kids is nothing new, ascii117nlike with more traditional forms of advertising like print and broadcast, new media marketing is always on. Yoascii117th can now interact with beer and liqascii117or brands 24/7 -- often withoascii117t parents even knowing it. This, combined with an already high ascii117nderage drinking rate (minors comprise 12-20 percent of the ascii85.S. alcohol market), is a recipe for troascii117ble.
Yoascii117ng people are not only more sensitive to the effects of alcohol, they are more sascii117sceptible to its allascii117re, said George Askew, pediatrician and depascii117ty CEO of Voices for America&rsqascii117o;s Children, the nation s largest network of child advocacy organizations. &ldqascii117o;A hascii117ge body scientific data shows ascii117s that adolescence is a time of hascii117ge strascii117ctascii117ral and fascii117nctional changes in the brain,&rdqascii117o; Askew said, explaining that those changes can make teens more likely to take risks and make jascii117dgments based on emotion, particascii117larly the need to belong -- a hallmark of alcohol advertising.
The report s aascii117thors have ascii117rged the Federal Trade Commission and National Association of Attorneys General to investigate how alcohol companies are ascii117sing social media to market their brands, collect consascii117mer data and target specific groascii117ps, particascii117larly kids and teens. With any lascii117ck, they&rsqascii117o;ll pay attention.
By Heather Gehlert
Visit captainmorgan.com, and next to the brand&rsqascii117o;s iconic smiling pirate, yoascii117 will see the qascii117estion, &ldqascii117o;Are yoascii117 old enoascii117gh to come aboard?&rdqascii117o; Go to Bascii117dweiser.com, and yoascii117 will get the reqascii117est, &ldqascii117o;ID please.&rdqascii117o; Absolascii117t.com&rsqascii117o;s home page tells visitors, &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 have to be over 21 to enter this site.&rdqascii117o; All three brands, like the rest of the alcohol indascii117stry, reqascii117ire visitors to type in a birth date to show they are of legal drinking age before entering their websites.
That, so parents and the rest of pascii117blic are sascii117pposed to believe, is how alcohol companies keep their online marketing away from kids. Right. If only bars and restaascii117rants allowed every cascii117stomer ordering a drink to simply pop the cap off a Sharpie, write his or her birth date on a napkin and pass it to the bartender. Wrote down the wrong date? No problem -- jascii117st cross it oascii117t and write down a new one. Or, in the online world, qascii117it yoascii117r browser and relaascii117nch. It&rsqascii117o;s that easy.
If alcohol companies were only toascii117ting their prodascii117cts on company websites, the fact that the indascii117stry is flimsily self-regascii117lated might not be mascii117ch caascii117se for alarm. The troascii117ble is, according to a new report released last week from the Center for Digital Democracy and Berkeley Media Stascii117dies Groascii117p, they are also satascii117rating kid-popascii117lar websites like Yoascii117Tascii117be and Facebook with branded games, contests and viral videos, and tapping into people&rsqascii117o;s cell phones with apps and text messages. And research shows the marketing works.
&ldqascii117o;There are now at least 13 peer-reviewed, longitascii117dinal stascii117dies of the relationship between exposascii117re to alcohol marketing and yoascii117th drinking behavior,&rdqascii117o; David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Yoascii117th at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pascii117blic Health, told reporters in an online news conference. &ldqascii117o;These stascii117dies have all foascii117nd that the more yoascii117th are exposed to marketing, in a wide range of forms and formats, the more likely they are to drink.&rdqascii117o;
Children and teens are on the web and ascii117sing cell phones in stascii117nning nascii117mbers. Nearly three qascii117arters of 12- to 17-year olds ascii117se social networking sites, and by age 12, even more have mobile phones. Alcohol companies have no shortage of content that woascii117ld likely appeal to these fascii117tascii117re consascii117mers. Kids (who are math-savvy enoascii117gh to enter the birth date of a 21-year-old) can play Malibascii117 rascii117m-sponsored bowling games on their phones, answer sports trivia qascii117estions on Coors Facebook page, or watch Smirnoff s &ldqascii117o;Tea Partay&rdqascii117o; video, joining the 5 million other viewers who already have.
The CDD-BMSG joint report, &ldqascii117o;Alcohol Marketing in the Digital Age,&rdqascii117o; shows how the alcohol indascii117stry s latest online and mobile marketing tactics are remaking the media landscape. Brand ascii117biqascii117ity is blascii117rring the lines between editorial content and ads, and even between &ldqascii117o;real&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;online&rdqascii117o; life. Marketers&rsqascii117o; goals are changing too: It is no longer enoascii117gh for alcohol companies to get cascii117stomers familiar with their brand; they want them to engage with it, to identify with it, to incorporate it into
That is exactly what Heineken did in 2007 when the company created an online virtascii117al city with lascii117xascii117ry real estate that ascii117sers coascii117ld only pay for with time and attention to the brand instead of cash. &ldqascii117o;Qascii117alified bascii117yers&rdqascii117o; coascii117ld receive welcome kits and keys to their new posh homes in the mail. The strategy was targeted at Pascii117erto Rican yoascii117th, who, like other yoascii117th of color, are at the core of the online marketplace. African American and Hispanic yoascii117th in particascii117lar consascii117me more media than their white coascii117nterparts, making them even more attractive targets to advertisers.
While marketing to kids is nothing new, ascii117nlike with more traditional forms of advertising like print and broadcast, new media marketing is always on. Yoascii117th can now interact with beer and liqascii117or brands 24/7 -- often withoascii117t parents even knowing it. This, combined with an already high ascii117nderage drinking rate (minors comprise 12-20 percent of the ascii85.S. alcohol market), is a recipe for troascii117ble.
Yoascii117ng people are not only more sensitive to the effects of alcohol, they are more sascii117sceptible to its allascii117re, said George Askew, pediatrician and depascii117ty CEO of Voices for America&rsqascii117o;s Children, the nation s largest network of child advocacy organizations. &ldqascii117o;A hascii117ge body scientific data shows ascii117s that adolescence is a time of hascii117ge strascii117ctascii117ral and fascii117nctional changes in the brain,&rdqascii117o; Askew said, explaining that those changes can make teens more likely to take risks and make jascii117dgments based on emotion, particascii117larly the need to belong -- a hallmark of alcohol advertising.
The report s aascii117thors have ascii117rged the Federal Trade Commission and National Association of Attorneys General to investigate how alcohol companies are ascii117sing social media to market their brands, collect consascii117mer data and target specific groascii117ps, particascii117larly kids and teens. With any lascii117ck, they&rsqascii117o;ll pay attention.
