Alcohol ads and its negative impact on youths:
Captain Morgan’s market focus is on men ages 18-24. These men are college graduates, single and reportedly belong to average annual income of USD 50,000 a year. (Fall 2009). The content of Captain Morgan ads are party, social events, cartoons, humour, music, athletics, and themes of belonging and friendship. These elements catch the fancy of young people. Strangely these commercials comply with beer alcohol industry and broadcasters’ advertising codes and meet (essentially meaningless) federal requirements. Captain Morgan also appeals to young people both male and female by developing familiar, sweet-tasting products. In addition, Facebook and Twitter are interactive mediums. While they allow fans and the brand to interact with each other, they also provide a forum for interaction amongst fans across the world, allowing them to form communities that otherwise might not exist. With men and women turning 21 every day, the brand is always expanding their audience; newly legal consumers are always looking to try new brands in different drink combinations.
Impact:
Exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing increases the likelihood that young people will start drinking, or that they will drink more if they are already consuming alcohol. The association between exposure to alcohol marketing and youth drinking behaviour, even after controlling for a variety of variables such as parental monitoring or socioeconomic status. It is very difficult for alcohol brands to monitor the age of their fans online. Indeed, it’s not the only non-parental approved subject that youth encounter on a daily basis. Websites can require persons to state their age upon entry, but that is by no means an effective method. The Internet is about anonymity, and that also applies to youth in many cases.
Self-regulation, as often imposed by alcohol manufacturers, just doesn’t work that well. Parents are encouraged to educate their children on the realities of alcohol use and abuse. Impressionable youth need to understand that advertising is about glamorization, and not necessarily about truth.
Remedy:
Captain Morgan should observe a proportional standard when placing their advertising to ensure that young people are not overexposed.
Deployment of voluntary codes of good marketing practice directing that alcohol advertisers avoid programming where underage audiences exceed 30 percent. On social media such as Facebook Captain Morgan should bring in age authentication measures. Example, Captain Morgan should authenticate age of joiners through the age. While other brands promise increased attractiveness by drinking their product, Captain Morgan only promises that consumers will have a fun night out.
The Facebook page also includes a hot list, which highlights fan posts and photos, fan recipes, latest promotions, and posts called “What the Captain’s Watching” and “What the Captain’s up to”. In the “Million Poses” section, fans can help the Captain raise money for charity by submitting photos of themselves being “a good first mate” - responsible, helping another and improving the community.
Every time a fan submits their photo, Captain Morgan donates a dollar to the First Mate fund. The First Mate fund helps support responsible drinking and related non-profits.
Diageo Corporate Crime – Environmental Damage:
One of the most vocal champions of corporate target setting is the global drinks firm Diageo, which in 2008 laid out a raft of commitments to achieve by this year. The list includes steps such as reducing packaging weight by 10% and improving water efficiency by 30%. The company’s latest annual report, published last month, reveals that it fell short on seven of its eight main environmental goals. It cut wastewater pollution by a mere 3.1% (on a 2007 baseline), for example. Its stated goal was 60%.
In other areas, it made progress but not enough. So its carbon emissions and waste water levels were down by 33.3% and 45.3%, respectively, rather than the promised 50%.
As a result of firm’s poor environmental performance and increased pollution at Diageo’s Cameronbridge grain distillery in Fife, the clean image of Scotch whisky was being damaged, environmentalists claimed that it is supremely ironic that a company which trades on the clean image of the water it uses continues to be a major polluter of that very water, and has failed so miserably to meets it’s own clean-up targets.
Remedy:
In the future, Diageo needs to invest more into renewable energy projects at its distilleries in Scotland. With recent major acquisitions and increasing their production volumes, Diageo should encountered their weaknesses on protecting the environment. The company need to committed to build a good environmental awareness and set a target to become alcohol drink industry-leading goals in reducing the impact on the environment. Since last decades, the global environment was very volatile, the company need to be committed to be one of the best performing, most-trusted, and respected company to drive the sustainable growth and value.
Diageo keep showing daringness on its Facebook Page:
A picture posted by Captain Morgan on their Facebook page showed the pirate Captain Morgan raising a glass and cheering whilst surrounded by his crew. Text at top of the image stated "WEDNESDAY. I'M DECLARING WAR ON MID-WEEK BOREDOM".
Source: The Stable https://www.thestable.com.au/diageo-to-fight-its-3rd-ad-ban-in-16-months/
Issue:
The Youth Alcohol Advertising Council (YAAC) challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, because it implied that alcohol could overcome boredom and was capable of changing mood.
Response:
Diageo Great Britain Ltd stated that the rationale behind the ad was to call consumers to take a break from their normal weekday routine and spend time with friends mid-week rather than wait for the weekend. They said the ad was not a call to drink as there was no mention of alcohol consumption, and the ad did not feature the product or servings of alcohol prominently. The central image was the Captain surrounded by, and enjoying time spent with, his crewmates. They acknowledged that the Captain and crew had raised their glasses in celebration, but said that was a peripheral part of the image. They also highlighted that the ad was written in the same tone as a series of other regular posts on the Captain Morgan Facebook page which also promoted meeting with friends or the Wednesday mid-week milestone, including one that stated "Gather your crew" and another which stated "Navigate through hump day and set your sights on the weekend!". In that context they said consumers viewing the ad would understand that the Captain and crew were celebrating the end of mid-week boredom, achieved through coming together, and not that alcohol consumption was the means to that end. Diageo also highlighted that the ad was one of a series of posts during the course of the week, which included two responsible drinking posts.
Facebook stated that the ad did not violate any of their internal policies and was appropriately age-gated. They had not received any complaints directly. They also said under their Terms, administrators were required to ensure their pages complied with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations.
Upheld:
The ASA noted that the ad showed the Captain, who was cheering and leading a toast, surrounded by his crewmates, who were also raising their glasses. ASA understood that the ad had been published on a Wednesday, and that the text referred to putting an end to "mid-week boredom". ASA considered that most consumers, viewing the image and text together, particularly in the context of the Captain Morgan Facebook page, would interpret the ad to mean that the Captain was alleviating his boredom by drinking Captain Morgan with friends. Whilst ASA acknowledged that the page included other posts related to meeting with friends or the "mid-week" milestone, as those posts did not appear regularly and were not directly linked to the ad, ASA considered that consumers were unlikely to view them as related or as part of a series. Therefore, ASA considered that their presence was unlikely to change a consumer's impression of the ad in question. Similarly, ASA considered that the presence of "drink responsibly" posts did not undermine the fact that the ad, although not expressly encouraging excessive drinking, implied that the Captain had sought alcohol to improve his mood. Because of that, ASA concluded that the ad implied that alcohol could overcome boredom and was capable of changing mood, and was therefore in breach of the Code. These ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising), 18.6 and 18.7 (Alcohol).
Remedy:
The ad must not appear again in its current form. ASA told Diageo Great Britain Ltd to ensure they did not state or imply that alcohol could overcome boredom or was capable of changing mood in future.