A new opportunity for a fairer, more equitable approach to alcohol supply -minus the marketing

ABSTRACT

Advocates, including the Health Coalition Aotearoa, have produced recommendations for the scope of the review, including giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the legislation, stricter legal restrictions on availability and reform of the licensing process to give communities the voice they were intended to have.1 A key issue the review must traverse is how can we ensure safe and responsible supply of alcohol while reducing the inequities in wellbeing and health to which alcohol significantly contributes. In Aotearoa, tamariki Maori are exposed to five times as much alcohol marketing compared with others,3 and this is likely to contribute to consumption of larger amounts of alcohol products by Māori rangitahi.4 In turn, this contributes to the striking inequity in premature mortality, with Māori more than twice as likely to die from alcohol attributable causes.5 One of the benefits of alcohol marketing for the global producers is to recruit new consumers and, especially important for them, an ongoing supply of heavy consumers, described in industry sources as "the heavy drinking loyalists of tomorrow".6 Everywhere commercial alcohol producers rely on heavy consumption for significant proportions of their sales and profits, approximately 50% in Aotearoa.7 Marketing's effects are broad and therefore the urgently needed policy response must go beyond a focus on protecting young people. There has been a marked increase in online purchase in Aotearoa during the COVID-19 pandemic.12 Digital marketing ensures a very effective use of the advertising dollar;for example, for as little as US$2 an advertising campaign based in Australia could reach one thousand young people profiled as interested in alcohol.13 Engagement with alcohol marketing in the digital media is also more powerful than with traditional modes. 14 Despite increasing concerns over privacy and the commodification of digital data, effective regulation of digital platforms has not yet been achieved.