Standards for Responsible Digital Marketing

Standards for Responsible Digital Marketing

In 2018, the United Nations called on our sector to take "concrete steps" towards eliminating marketing of alcohol products to minors as part of efforts to reduce underage drinking. 

The Digital Guiding Principles developed and implemented by IARD members respond to these calls. The DGPs are designed to help ensure that digital marketing reaches only adults over the legal purchase age (LPA), and comprise five key safeguards: 

1. Age-affirmation mechanism – A mechanism should check that the user is over the country’s LPA. 
2. Forward advice notice – A clear statement that content shouldn’t be forwarded to anyone under the LPA in the country of viewing. 
3. Responsible drinking message – A clearly visible message explicitly promoting responsible consumption. 
4. Transparency message – It must be clear that the digital marketing communication page is the official brand page. 
5. User-generated-content policy – A clear statement that any user posts that condone irresponsible drinking will be removed.

Accenture independently assess the DGPs, finding a 98.2% full compliance rate in 2024 for thousands of brands marketing on leading digital platforms. This result surpasses the 95% compliance target for 2024, and producers continue to strive for full compliance. 

Helping producers add safeguards to social media marketing 

To achieve systemic change across their businesses, IARD members have introduced automation, engaged with hundreds of digital leaders and agencies managing thousands of brands, and collaborated with platforms, including Google and Meta – to make it easier for all alcohol brands to market responsibly and incorporate safeguards to help prevent those underage from seeing alcohol marketing online.

IARD also worked with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to create videos that support all alcohol producers to implement these safeguards. Watch the platform-specific videos for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.