Recently, Facebook has begun to de-toxify its image following a series of scandals. The company has emphasised that it is a social space for friends and families and not for fake news and far right trolls. Social media platforms are slowly starting to deal with the negative content that has caused their users so much harm, but in some regards it is business as usual.
Social media marketing is integral to the selling of any brand, because it enables consumers to create their own content. A Facebook page for a product or service features content from the manufacturer and reviews, thoughts, ideas, feelings, jokes and observations from the consumers. Suddenly, the lifeless one way process of selling the benefits of a product to an audience transforms into a rich and interactive community. The product becomes associated with the thing that human beings truly crave; togetherness and connection.
Unsurprisingly, this is the way in which alcohol is being marketed to children and young people in the digital age. In a recent study conducted by Alcohol Research UK, it was revealed that:
"The recent expansion of social media use amongst under-25s has created unprecedented opportunities for marketing alcohol products, especially with the emergence of more interactive platforms alongside digital and mobile technologies."
These unprecedented opportunities are so valuable to the alcohol industry as they help manufacturers navigate around many of the more onerous regulations and restrictions on advertising.
How does a savvy marketer circumvent the strict rules that prevent alcohol being sold as an attractive lifestyle choice that makes one more sexually attractive and popular? No content created by the drinks manufacturer can suggest this, but there are no rules surrounding content created by the consumer. The biggest growth area of drinks marketing online is no longer simply the alcohol brand itself, but the live venue it is consumed at. if drinkers want to post pictures of themselves having a great time in the pub or club which would normally breach advertising rules if it were on a conventional advert, they can (or the venue can take the pictures instead).
Drinking venues and alcohol brands have become able to penetrate the worlds of drinkers through social media platforms and phones to market drinking events and promotions. In doing so, it has become possible for them to build an artificial sense of belonging and connection that revolves around drinking. The study concluded that:
"Only 1.4% of the posts by alcohol brands and none of the venue posts included messages about responsible drinking. These were small, not very noticeable, and were generally undermined by exhortations to consume alcohol in other posts."
Young people who were featured in the survey were often critical and suspicious of big alcohol brands and viewed their responsible drinking advertising as the window dressing it clearly is. This suggests that older forms of advertising are becoming less effective, but the power of social media in young people's lives has had a far more pronounced effect. The report concluded that: " ...social media activity played an important role in the experience of (often heavy) social drinking occasions. Participants used social media to actively seek out ‘cheap deals’ and plan destinations. "
Social media has presented major challenges to the regulation of alcohol and has created new ways for drinks manufacturers and venues to connect with young people. In this way the idea that alcohol can be seamlessly integrated into normal everyday experience is perpetuated.