29
Jan

               Alcohol contributes to over 5 percent of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide (Park & Kim, 2020). The World Health Organization's SAFER Policies for Alcohol Control include a comprehensive ban on alcohol advertisement as a cost-effective measure for the prevention and control of alcohol-related harm (World Health Organization, 2018). However, a ban on online alcohol advertisements is considered a far-reaching solution (Room & O’Brien, 2021), albeit one with severe social and political consequences. For example, restricting access to online content may be deemed an infringement of freedom of information (Parekh & Shrank, 2018; Ventola, 2011). Currently, social media are filled with alcohol-related content and marketing activities with a high level of reach and penetration, even among accounts with more strict privacy settings (Janiuk & Maleki, 2023). Since the late 2000s, international conglomerates in social media and alcohol have intensively engaged with one another (Room & O’Brien, 2021) and have been secretive regarding the sharing of users’ data and alcohol advertising activities via social media. Existing scientific evidence suggests that exposure to digital alcohol marketing is associated with increased alcohol consumption, including binge or hazardous drinking (Noel et al., 2020).

               Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been increasingly used to target potential alcohol consumers, such as making targeted advertising, purchasing media spaces, predicting emerging trends in consumption (OhBev, 2024), and optimizing product development based on automated consumer feedback (Aswani, 2024). AI can also improve the safety of consumers online, including use by regulators in the UK to monitor online contents that violate the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) (Shoosmiths, 2024). Other AI-based solutions for online alcohol control have been suggested but are still far from finalized, such as the use of automated warning messages on alcohol-related social media content (Hendriks et al., 2023).

               The emergence of issues pertaining to digital marketing and the potential for AI to be used by both the alcohol industry and regulators deserve further discussions by a multidisciplinary panel of experts and stakeholders in technology, public health, and alcohol control. Findings and summary from such discussions can contribute to the work of stakeholders in the mentioned areas.

References

Aswani, S. (2024, May 31). How can AI benefit beverage alcohol? IWSR. https://www.theiwsr.com/how-can-ai-benefit-beverage-alcohol/

Hendriks, H., Thanh Le, T., Gebhardt, W. A., van den Putte, B., & Vanherle, R. (2023). Dealing with Alcohol-Related Posts on Social Media: Using a Mixed-Method Approach to Understand Young Peoples’ Problem Awareness and Evaluations of Intervention Ideas. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(10), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105820

Janiuk, K., & Maleki, N. (2023). Exposure to Alcohol‐Related Content on Social‐Media. Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, 5(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20230009

Noel, J. K., Sammartino, C. J., & Rosenthal, S. R. (2020). Exposure to Digital Alcohol Marketing and Alcohol Use: A Systematic Review. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Supplement, Sup 19(Suppl 19), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsads.2020.s19.57

OhBev. (2024, October 14). AI in the Alcohol Industry 2024: A Comprehensive Overview. OhBev. https://www.ohbev.com/blog/ai-in-the-alcohol-industry-2024-a-comprehensive-overview

Parekh, N., & Shrank, W. H. (2018). Dangers and Opportunities of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33(5), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4342-9

Park, S. H., & Kim, D. J. (2020). Global and regional impacts of alcohol use on public health: Emphasis on alcohol policies. Clinical and Molecular Hepatology, 26(4), 652–661. https://doi.org/10.3350/cmh.2020.0160

Room, R., & O’Brien, P. (2021). Alcohol marketing and social media: A challenge for public health control. Drug and Alcohol Review, 40(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13160

Shoosmiths. (2024, October 14). From Chatbots to ChatGPT: Navigating consumer rights in an AI-driven world. Shoosmiths LLP. https://www.shoosmiths.com/insights/articles/from-chatbots-to-chatgpt-navigating-consumer-rights-in-an-ai-driven-world

Ventola, C. L. (2011). Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising: Therapeutic or Toxic? P & T : A Peer-Reviewed Journal for Formulary Management, 36(10), 669–684.

World Health Organization. (2018). The SAFER initiative: A world free from alcohol related harm. https://www.who.int/initiatives/SAFER