ABAC has commissioned new compliance monitoring on social media, which has provided valuable insights that will aid ongoing education and resources to assist the alcohol industry.
In particular the audit will help alcohol marketers ensure age restriction controls are in place across alcohol promotion on social media, which were introduced to the ABAC Responsible Alcohol Marketing Code in 2017. Those placement rules require alcohol, producers, distributors and retailers to activate available age restriction controls to prevent their marketing being visible to minors.
“JWS Research was engaged to undertake an independent audit of ABAC signatory Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter brand assets to check if available age restriction controls had been activated for those assets.
“The objective was to understand levels of compliance across various platforms and any impediments to full compliance to aid education initiatives and the development of useful resources.” Chair of The ABAC Scheme, Harry Jenkins, said.
“Over 300 randomly selected brands were audited by JWS Research between March and May 2022, and overall, age restrictions were in place for the majority of signatory brands across social media platforms audited, with a range of helpful insights revealed for ABAC.
“It was evident from the independent audit that very few non-age restricted brand initiated influencer posts were detected, however, there is room for improvement on age restriction of alcohol brand accounts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
“ABAC is committed to providing industry with the education and resources it needs to navigate the complex and changing age restriction options across the wide variety of social media platforms in Australia.
“It is clear that the primary cause of non-compliance is a lack of understanding and confusion over the availability and implementation of age restriction options, particularly among smaller businesses. ABAC is also committed to continuing to encourage the expansion of these options by social media platforms and the simplification of activation mechanisms.”