The way alcohol is sold and marketed has changed, bringing heightened risk of harm while our regulatory system fails to keep pace.
While alcohol advertising and sales have traditionally been separate, alcohol companies now use online advertising as a storefront, with many advertisements directly linking to online platforms where alcohol is sold and rapidly delivered into people’s homes.
Combined with data-driven digital marketing techniques that are designed to trigger impulse purchases with highly personalised and appealing content and promotions, this new method of alcohol promotion and sale brings heightened risk of harm to our community.
This report presents findings from a national survey of Australians about online sale, delivery and advertising of alcohol in Australia and support for advertising related policy measures
Key findings:
- One in three participants (39%) who used alcohol in the past year had alcohol delivered to their home – and nearly 40% of those received it within two hours, increasing the risk of high-risk drinking and harm.
- People likely experiencing alcohol dependency are twice as likely to have alcohol sold to them for rapid delivery to their home compared to those at low risk (55% vs 24%) – putting them at greater risk of harm.
- Most participants support stronger protections, including stopping push notifications (4 in 5 or 78%), preventing personal data use to target online marketing (3 in 4 or 77%), and introducing health warnings on retail websites (4 in 5 or 80%).
- The space between advertising exposure and alcohol purchase is reduced in the online environment. Approximately a third of participants (34%) who had alcohol delivered into the home indicated that they bought alcohol online after clicking through an online alcohol advertisement.
