Alcohol advertising and promotion consultation: stakeholder engagement summaries

Overview

Alcohol-related harm is one of the most pressing public health challenges in Scotland. We have taken a number of actions to prevent and reduce this, including the world-leading minimum unit pricing policy, the reduction of the drink-drive limit and the multi-buy discount ban.

Restricting alcohol marketing is identified as one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) three ‘best buys’, the most cost-effective measures that WHO recommends to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm.

The commitment to issuing a consultation on alcohol advertising and promotion was set out in the Alcohol Framework 2018 and the Programme for Government (PfG) 2022-2023. The consultation on potential restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion ran from 17 November 2022 until 9 March 2023.

This was the first consultation in this area and set out the major sources of alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland. The consultation presented different options that could be implemented together, separately or not at all. The function of consulting at an early stage, before proposals are further developed, was to give organisations and individuals the chance to feedback on these options and potential impacts.

During the consultation period, six ministerial roundtables were held with a range of stakeholders including alcohol producers, retailers, sporting bodies, cultural organisations, people in recovery and public health organisations. These predominantly took part in-person.

This provides a high-level summary of the discussions. It was set out to attendees that the discussions would form part of the consultation process but would not be formally analysed alongside written consultation responses.

Members

Public health stakeholders group

• Alcohol Focus Scotland 
• Deep End Group 
• NCD Alliance 
• Royal College of General Practitioners 
• Scottish Alcohol Counselling Consortium 
• Scottish Families Affected By Alcohol and Drugs 
• Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems

Producers and hospitality stakeholders group

• AB InBev    
• Aston Manor Cider    
• Beam Suntory                       
• Brown-Forman                     
• C and C Group    
• Chivas Brothers Ltd/Pernod Ricard UK    
• Diageo
• Glenmorangie              
• Heineken UK    
• Innis and Gunn     
• Molson Coors    
• Scotch Whisky Association     
• Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership    
• Scottish Beer and Pub Association 
• Edrington (attended remotely)        

Retailers and hospitality stakeholders group

• Aldi
• ASDA
• Association of Convenience Stores
• Federation of Independent Retailers    
• Lidl
• Majestic Wine
• Marks and Spencer
• Sainsburys
• Scotland Food and Drink
• Scottish Beer and Pub Association
• Scottish Grocers Federation
• Scottish Licensed Trade Association
• Scottish Retail Consortium
• Scottish Wholesale Association
• Star Pubs and Bars 
• Tesco
• UK Hospitality
• Whyte and Mackay
• Wine and Spirts Trade Association  
• Punch Pubs (attended remotely)
• Society of Independent Brewers (attended remotely)
• The Cooperative (attended remotely)
• Waitrose (attended remotely)     

People in recovery group

• it was agreed that attendee details would not be published

Sponsorship stakeholder group

• Creative Scotland 
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society 
• Edinburgh International Festival
• Festivals Edinburgh 
• GRM Marketing 
• Music Venue Trust 
• Scottish Music Industry Association
• Scottish Premier Football League 
• Scottish Racing 
• Scottish Rugby Union
• Scottish Sports Association 
• Scottish Tourism Alliance 
• SportScotland 
• The Portman Group
• The V and A 
• Traditional Arts Culture Scotland 
• Culture Counts (attended remotely)
• DF Concerts (attended remotely)
• Event Scotland (attended remotely)
• Scottish Football Association (attended remotely)
• Scottish Football Association (attended remotely)

Advertising stakeholder group

• Advertising Association 
• Advertising Standards Authority 
• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
• News Scotland 
• Outsmart 
• Screen Scotland 
• STV 
• The Leith Agency 
• The Marketing Society
• British Promotional Merchandise Association (attended remotely)
• UK Cinema Association (attended remotely)
• Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (attended remotely)

Publications