Alcohol Issues

For the sixth episode in our third season we discuss how World Cancer Research Fund International wants to galvanize governments to address alcohol’s direct link to cancer.

In today’s episode, we explore the direct link between alcohol and cancer and what to do about it. Together with Kendra Chow from World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI) we’re telling a story that might change how you think about the role of alcohol policy in efforts to prevent and reduce cancer deaths. 

We discuss the reasons why WCRFI developed the policy position statement, the latest evidence on alcohol’s direct link to cancer, the policy recommendations, and the need for action. 

We talk about additional considerations in the context of alcohol and cancer, such as language, commercial determinants of health, alcohol industry interference, and no- and low-alcohol products. Kendra also shares personal anecdotes from her life about why cancer prevention interventions are so important, and why public awareness of the risks from health-harming products can impact health outcomes.

Kendra Chow is the Policy and Public Affairs Manager with World Cancer Research Fund International.

She is a public health policy specialist and Registered Dietitian. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She also has previous experience developing policy interventions for the prevention of non-communicable diseases as a public health dietitian. Kendra’s research experience centres on the commercial determinants of health, health inequities, and impacts of social media on health policy. 

Follow Kendra’s work on LinkedIn.

You can read all Kendra’s blogs here.

WCRFI has made a number of resources available regarding the direct link between alcohol and cancer, and what to do about it:

• The brand new Alcohol and Cancer Risk policy position statement of the World Cancer Research Fund International

Movendi International resources on alcohol and cancer science and policy action:

• 250+ resources article on all Alcohol Issues regarding cancer prevention and science.

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on LinkedIn, too.

For the fifth episode in our third season we welcome back Dr. Maristela Monteiro. Together host Maik Dünnbier and Maristela talk about the state of alcohol policy in the world. Recently, the World Health Organization released the Global Alcohol Status Report 2024. And Maristela and Maik discuss the key findings of the report and talk about what it all means for alcohol policy advocacy.

Maristela Monteiro is a world class expert in alcohol policy and science. She has worked at the World Health Organization headquarters between 1994 and 2003. And between 2003 and 2023, she was the senior advisor on alcohol at the Pan-American Health Organization. Since she retired from PAHO, Maristela is a freelance international specialist for example regarding alcohol policy advice and research on alcohol related topics.

Maristela has been involved in all the WHO Global Status Reports on alcohol, since the very first edition in 2001. All in all, in the 23 years since the first status report in 2001 and the most recent edition in 2024, there have only been 6 reports but Maristela lead on or contributed to all of them.

Follow Maristela on LinkedIn.

In this conversation, Maristela shares her key findings from the latest WHO Global Alcohol Status Report. So Maristela and Maik discuss the latest situation regarding alcohol consumption in the world. Maristela helps make sense of the figures and puts them into perspective – for example how big or small the reduction of alcohol use during the pandemic really was.

They also explore latest figures on alcohol harm and Maristela shares which findings stand out to her.

In the conversation, Maristela and Maik dive deeper into the report’s findings concerning the state of alcohol policy in the world. Maristela shares her insights on topics such as the alcohol policy best buys, alcohol taxation, and online retail and on-demand alcohol delivery. Where have we made progress and where not, and why – these are issues Maristela explores.

Maristela and Maik round this conversation off by looking into the future – as the report does, too. Countries are not on track to reach the alcohol-related global targets of the SDGs. What does that mean and what can be done about it? Maristela shares insightful analysis that is both empowering and inspiring to the alcohol policy and science community.

We recorded this conversation on July 1st, 2024 – a few days after WHO released the report in a public webinar.

Global Alcohol Use Rising, Policy Goals out of Reach

Already in 2019, a landmark study published by the Lancet revealed that global alcohol consumption had increased over the past 3 decades. The study warned the world would fail to achieve the global targets to reduce alcohol use. Globally, alcohol intake increased from 5.9 litres pure alcohol a year per adult in 1990, to 6.5 litres in 2017, and is predicted to increase further to 7.6 litres by 2030.

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on LinkedIn, too.

For the fourth episode in the third season of the Alcohol Issues Podcast we discuss the master manipulators. In two very recent Alcohol Policy Evaluation Hearings in both the Scottish and British Parliaments, alcohol industry participation drew widespread criticism and scrutiny.

In this episode, we reveal and discuss the lobbying narratives and spin of alcohol industry lobbyists on display in two separate parliamentary hearings.

Jane Gordon, Policy and Public Affairs Officer at SHAAP, the Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems. Jane joined SHAAP in January 2022 as Policy and Public Affairs Officer. She is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, where she completed her Master of Public Health Programme. Jane has a background in global health policy and advocacy, formerly focussing on nutrition policy in her role with World Obesity Federation. She has also previously worked for the NHS during pandemic relief efforts. 

Follow Jane on LinkedIn: Jane Gordon

And Prof. Mark Petticrew. Mark is Professor of Public Health Evaluation in the Department of Public Health, Environments and Society of the Faculty of Public Health and Policy, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is the Director of the NIHR Public Health PRU with a focus on conducting public health research with a social determinants focus, delivered within four broad themes: Understanding what determines people’s physical and mental health, and health behaviours; identifying, developing and evaluating effective and cost effective PH interventions; generating evidence to inform strategies to reduce inequalities in health; and developing new theory and methods, and new ways to apply them to public health challenges.

Follow Mark on Twitter: @petticrewmark

Jane and Mark unpack what the hearings in Edinburgh and Westminster were about, why the alcohol industry was invited and why this is problematic.

Maik discusses with them the conflicts of interest at play and why it matters to identify and take conflicts of interest seriously.

Jane wrote a powerful blog post reflecting on her experience with the hearing in the Scottish parliament. In the blog post, she used the term “master manipulators”. Maik asks her what she means and Jane goes into more detail regarding a number of topics raised in the blog post.

Mark tweeted live from a cold bench in London Bridge Station as he followed the proceedings in the select committee of the British Parliament. In this viral tweet thread he exposed alcohol industry talking points, spin, myths, and lies. Maik asked about those for an in-depth conversation regarding alcohol industry narratives.

Jane and Mark also discuss the effects of this type of alcohol industry talking points, spin, and narratives.

And in this episode, Mark, Jane, and Maik talk about concrete ways to avoid that the alcohol industry is invited to similar parliamentary hearings in the future.

We recorded this conversation on February 13, 2024.

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

Seen with the eyes of our children, the world we live in has an alcohol problem.

In 2021, UNICEF released the flagship report entitled “The State of the World’s Children”. It explored the mental health of children, adolescents and caregivers. The report addressed alcohol as a risk factor for the mental health of children and young people. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as violence, abuse, neglect, household alcohol problems, are in turn linked to sexual risk taking, mental health issues, alcohol and other drug use problems and violence. Thus, perpetuating a vicious cycle. 

That children have to grow up in homes with alcohol problems is an invisible and silent but massive crisis - worldwide.

For this podcast conversation we have invited four guests to discuss how we can provide support to children growing up in households with alcohol problems.

Dr. Joanna Lai DrPH, MPH, MsED

Health Specialist

Maternal Newborn Adolescent Health Unit

Health Section, Programme Division

UNICEF NYHQ 

Kristina Sperkova, MPsy

International President, Movendi International,

President, Movendi SK

Mr. Winyoo Srisupachok

Social Innovation engineer

Project consultant,

The Cultivation of children for Positive Consciousness and protection from health risk factors (Alcohol, Tobacco, other Drugs etc.)

Stop Drink Network in Thailand

Mona Örjes

President,

Junis, social movement in Sweden for child rights and child health with a focus on protecting children who grow up in household with alcohol problem

We recorded this conversation as a livestreamed event on February 15, 2024, during the global awareness week for children of households with alcohol problems.

There is a pressing need for more action to increase recognition of and support for children of households with alcohol problems. 

Some community programs exists and some advocacy campaigns show promising results, along with growing attention to the magnitude and urgency of the problem.

In a timely event, Movendi International brings together experts in the fields of child rights and child health with community leaders working to protect children from adverse experiences due to parental alcohol use problems.

For the second episode in our third season we discuss alcohol issues past, present, and future. Together with the President of Movendi International, Kristina Sperkova, we will review key alcohol policy highlights in 2023 and we will discuss the outlook for alcohol policy trends in 2024.

In the review of alcohol issues in the past year, Movendi International has identified 6 key stories. And in the conversation with Kristina we will discuss the highlights of those in detail, to identify common themes and synergies.

Host Maik Dünnbier will also ask Kristina about some of the successes of Movendi International in 2023 to get a flavor of how Movendi International is working and she will share her top three achievements. And we will talk about why those achievements matters in the bigger picture.

These two topics will bring us smoothly into the conversation about the future. Maik asks Kristina to share with us her analysis of what will matter in 2024 regarding alcohol issues, what the trends in the field of alcohol policy in the broadest sense are going to be this year. In Kristina’s analysis there are eight trends and we will go into more detail about  a few of them.

This is an insightful discussion that connected past and future in alcohol policy. Connecting the dots, seeing the bigger picture, charting new ways forward – Kristina provided this and helped gain new insights.

We recorded this conversation on February 11, 2024.

Kristina Sperkova has dedicated more than half of her life to empowering people and communities to prevent and reduce alcohol harm and to unlock development and human potential that way.

She has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

She is the International President of Movendi International, the largest global social movement for development through alcohol prevention. She is also the President of Movendi SK, in Slovakia.

Kristina is a member of the advisory group on NCDs to the WHO Director General.

• Follow Kristina on Twitter: @KristinSperkova

• Alcohol issues 2023 analysis: What were the big topics and alcohol issues highlights from 2023?

• How and where did we see alcohol policy progress in 2023?

• Kristina mentions a few highlights and explains four in greater detail.

• Kristina addresses three priority topics and greater detail and why they will be important in 2024 and beyond.

Movendi International: “The 6 Biggest Alcohol Issues Stories of 2023“

In the review of the biggest stories in 2023 Movendi International has identified six alcohol issues that were significant in the previous year:

1. Alcohol policy progress worldwide.

Movendi International: “The Alcohol Issues Newsletter – Special Edition 2023 Review“

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production by Movendi International. It’s a show about current alcohol issues of global importance. Through in-depth conversations with policy makers, community leaders and scientists, we explore alcohol policy issues, discuss landmark scientific studies, and expose the alcohol industry.

This podcast episode is part of Movendi International’s work to support an evidence-based approach to protecting more people from alcohol harm.

For the first episode in our third season we discuss an action agenda to address the link between alcohol and cancer: How can communities advance cancer prevention through awareness and policy action on alcohol.

Cancer due to alcohol affects millions of people every year but the alcohol industry still keeps people in the dark about the fact that their products cause 7 types of cancer.

In Movendi International, one of our biggest priorities is to help prevent cancer through alcohol policy. Last year we launched the Be Loud For Change campaign to empower and engage communities to advocate for change by raising awareness about alcohol and cancer and by promoting action from policy makers. In the first year, we’ve seen some inspiring progress.

For this podcast conversation we have invited four guests to discuss how the alcohol industry keeps people in the dark about alcohol and cancer and what we can do about it. And we explore insights and lessons from both science and community action in countries such as Sweden, Uganda, and Colombia to chart an ambitious way forward.

Dr Nason Maani is a Lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Policy Unit. His research seeks to describe the mechanisms through which commercial actors affect health inequalities, knowledge and public discourse. He serves as an invited expert and technical consultant for the WHO global programme on economic and commercial determinants of health, and is the host of Money Power Health, a podcast series discussing the social and commercial forces that shape our health. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a 2019-2020 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow.

Dr Blanca Llorente is Research Director at Fundacion Anaas in Colombia. She is an Economist from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, with decades of experience in teaching and research on topics related to economics, environment and health. She has also developed community interventions for the prevention of non-communicable diseases, including tobacco control and alcohol policy development.

Emil Juslin is the former head of the EU office of IOGT-NTO, the largest social movement for alcohol prevention in Sweden. Emil has deep experience in both alcohol policy advocacy, community engagement, and exposing and counter-acting alcohol industry interference in Swedish and EU policy-making processes.

Juliet Namukasa is the country director of LM International in Uganda and the chair of the Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance. Juliet is also a member of the International Board of Movendi International. She has profound experience in poverty eradication work in Uganda, lifting up people and communities through advancing community-based and population-level policy solutions.

We recorded this conversation as a livestreamed event on February 2, 2024.

How does the alcohol industry keep people in the dark about alcohol and cancer?

• Overall: what are some of the efforts of the alcohol industry to influence the public discourse in their favor; and to influence the framing of alcohol problems and possible solutions regarding alcohol harm?

Community action example #1: Sweden

• How big is the cancer burden due to alcohol in Sweden? What is the level of awareness among the public healthcare professionals and politicians?

Community action example #2: Uganda

• Is cancer an issue of concern in Uganda?

Community action example #3: Colombia

• How big is the cancer burden due to alcohol in Colombia? What is the level of awareness among the public healthcare professionals and politicians?

The Commercial Determinants of Health. Nason Maani (ed.) et al. Chapter 6: “The Role of Commercial Influences in Public Understanding of Harms, Causes, and Solutions“

2017 Alcohol and Society Report: “Alcohol and Cancer“

Original paper: “How alcohol industry organisations mislead the public about alcohol and cancer“

Research article: “Manufacturing doubt: Assessing the effects of independent vs industry-sponsored messaging about the harms of fossil fuels, smoking, alcohol, and sugar sweetened beverages”

2023 Analysis: Growing recognition of the direct link between alcohol and cancer

The Lancet: “Denormalising alcohol industry activities in schools“

The Lancet: “Trends in alcohol-specific deaths in the UK and industry responses“

Feature paper: “Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis “

Journal article: “Under the influence: system-level effects of alcohol industry-funded health information organizations”

The Swedish alcohol-cancer awareness campaign. Read more here.

More background information about alcohol and cancer in Uganda. Read more here.

In the Colombian context, there is a new code against cancer. Read more here.

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production by Movendi International. It’s a show about current alcohol issues of global importance. Through in-depth conversations with policy makers, community leaders and scientists, we explore alcohol policy issues, discuss landmark scientific studies, and expose the alcohol industry.

This podcast episode is part of Movendi International’s work to support an evidence-based approach to protecting more people from alcohol harm.

This podcast episode is part of Movendi International’s work to support an evidence-based approach to protecting more people from alcohol harm.

Two quotes from the report outline the importance, urgency, and potential of the subject of this podcast:

1. Especially alcohol as risk factor for hypertension has not yet been given the attention it deserves in policy, guidelines and clinical practice.

In this conversation Dr. Tim Naimi talks in-depth about alcohol and blood pressure – and what societies, law makers, health systems and people can do about it.

The conversation covers a range of topics. Among others, Tim and Maik discuss questions, such as:

1. Why does the issue of blood pressure matter in the context of alcohol harm? Why did you and your colleagues decide to write a research report about the issue?

• What is alcohol’s causal role in hypertension?

• Why does alcohol policy matter for heart disease prevention?

Dr. Timothy Naimi is currently the Director at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada.

He has worked as a physician for the U.S. Indian Health Service, and as a senior epidemiologist with the Alcohol Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as professor in the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine. His research interests include alcohol epidemiology, the health effects of substance use, and the impact of alcohol and cannabis policies. 

Tim is part of an international group of researchers that come together every year to dive deeply into a specific topic of alcohol research. They conduct extensive research to identify relevant published science on the selected topic. And then, the group reviews and summarizes the search results. This analysis is then published in a report. This year the report deals with alcohol and blood pressure and podcast host Maik Dünnbier has the chance to talk with Tim Naimi about the key findings, conclusions and what it all means.

Movendi International has published more than 40 resources about the link between alcohol and heart disease, since 2015.

• Research report: Alcohol and Blood Pressure.

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

Listen to season 3, episode 01 of the Alcohol Issues Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

• You can find the brand new episode on Apple podcasts, here. 

The Alcohol Issues Podcast is an original production by Movendi International. It’s a show about current alcohol issues of global importance. Through in-depth conversations with policy makers, community leaders and scientists, we explore alcohol policy issues, discuss landmark scientific studies, and expose the alcohol industry.

Flawed understanding of alcohol harm leads to lost potential in using alcohol policy as catalyst for sustainable development.

Alcohol is, for example, a driver of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2). The products and practices of the alcohol industry cause a significant and increasing global disease burden (SDG 3). Alcohol is a risk factor for violence (SDG 5 and 16), and it contributes to inequalities (SDG 5 and 10). The harm caused by alcohol companies undermines economic productivity and hinders economic growth (SDG 8), disrupts sustainable consumption (SDG 12) and adversely impacts the environment (SDG 6, 13 and 15). 

But these effects are not considered by European countries in the design of measures to achieve these sustainable development goals. Effective alcohol policy solutions, the so called three best buys, are largely missing from transformative action that the Agenda 2030 calls for and that governments committed to.

In this show guest host Pierre Andersson talks with Kristina Sperkova about her freshly published peer-reviewed research article that examines how European countries address alcohol as obstacle to development.

In their conversation, they discuss alcohol policy issues beyond the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan to enhance the understanding of alcohol policy not only as public health priority but also as human rights priority – and the potential of such an approach.

Alcohol is, for example, a driver of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2). The products and practices of the alcohol industry cause a significant and increasing global disease burden (SDG 3). Alcohol is a risk factor for violence (SDG 5 and 16), and it contributes to inequalities (SDG 5 and 10). The harm caused by alcohol companies undermines economic productivity and hinders economic growth (SDG 8), disrupts sustainable consumption (SDG 12) and adversely impacts the environment (SDG 6, 13 and 15). 

But these effects are not considered by European countries in the design of measures to achieve these sustainable development goals. Effective alcohol policy solutions, the so called three best buys, are largely missing from transformative action that the Agenda 2030 calls for and that governments committed to.

A brand-new study provides ground-breaking analysis showing that most European countries fail to address alcohol as obstacle to multiple other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) than health in the design of measures to make progress towards the SDGs. To make matters worse, inaccurate language related to alcohol harm indicates gaps in understanding of the extent of the alcohol burden and the consequences for sustainable development. 

This episode is guest hosted Pierre Andersson. He talks with Kristina Sperkova about her brand new study about the uptake of alcohol policy as catalyst for sustainable development in European countries.

Pierre Andersson is the Policy Advisor Alcohol and Development at the IOGT-NTO Movement, from Sweden. The IOGT-NTO Movement is a Swedish development organization that works for poverty eradication by supporting partners to tackle alcohol as obstacle to development. Pierre has extensive experience is journalism as well as development work.

• Follow Pierre on Twitter: @pierrea

Kristina Sperkova is the International President at Movendi International. She is the lead author of the peer-reviewed research article “Alcohol policy measures are an ignored catalyst for achievement of the sustainable development goals” that she co-authored with Peter Anderson, Eva Jané Llopis.

• Follow Kristina on Twitter: @KristinSperkova

• The Use of Alcohol Policy to Reach the Sustainable Development Goals in European Countries

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

Lost opportunity or new momentum or both?

In the end of May, the 75th World Health Assembly will discuss and adopt the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan. It is meant to help accelerate action on alcohol policy development after a lost decade when no progress was made.

But is the new action plan up to the task or is it a lost opportunity for accelerating action on alcohol as public health priority? 

In this show host Maik Dünnbier talks with Prof. Amandine Garde about the human rights law perspective on the global alcohol action plan. 

In their conversation, they discuss alcohol policy issues beyond the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan to enhance the understanding of alcohol policy not only as public health priority but also as human rights priority – and the potential of such an approach.

In this conversation, Amandine shares her analysis of the strengths and gaps of the draft WHO Global Alcohol Plan. Maik and Amandine discuss the potential of a human rights based approach to improving the global and regional alcohol policy response. They talk about alcohol issues, such as labelling, trade, taxation, and the harm caused by the products and practices of the alcohol industry – from a human rights law perspective. And they dive into why and how governments should act collectively to protect people from alcohol harm.

The discussion goes into depth regarding the following questions:

1. What does a Human Rights based perspective of the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan find?

Amandine Garde is a Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool. She has developed a specific research expertise on the role of law in the prevention of non-communicable diseases and is Founding Director of the Law & NCD Research Unit, which regularly advises international organisations, NGOs, public health agencies and governments worldwide.

• Follow Amandine on Twitter: @AmandineGarde

140+ scientific articles about alcohol harm and human rights, from Movendi International’s Science Digest.

700+ news stories about alcohol policy development and human rights, from Movendi International’s News Center.

The UNICEF report, April 2018: “A CHILD RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO FOOD MARKETING: A GUIDE FOR POLICY MAKERS“

Prof. Garde’s publications on NCDs (including alcohol) and human rights, relevant recent studies:

1. On the rocks? A few sobering thoughts on the growing EU alcohol problem

• Garde, A., & Bartlett, O. (2017). On the rocks? A few sobering thoughts on the growing EU alcohol problem. In T. Hervey, C. Young, & L. Bishop (Eds.), Research Handbook on EU Health Law and Policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. doi:10.4337/9781785364723.00029 DOI: 10.4337/9781785364723.00029

• Alemanno, A., & Garde, A. (Eds.) (2015). Regulating Lifestyle Risks: The EU, Tobacco, Alcohol and Unhealthy Diets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107478114 DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107478114

• Garde, A., Byrne, S., & Byrne, S. (2020). Combatting obesogenic commercial practices through the implementation of the best interests of the child principle. In Ending Childhood Obesity – A Challenge at the Crossroads of International Economic and Human Rights Law (pp. 251-281). Edward Elgar.

1. Tatlow-Golden, M., & Garde, A. (2020). Digital food marketing to children: Exploitation, surveillance and rights violations. Global Food Security. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100423 DOI: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100423

1. GARDE, A. (2020). Harmful Commercial Marketing and Children’s Rights: For a Better Use of EU Powers. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 11(4), 841-850. doi:10.1017/err.2020.83 DOI: 10.1017/err.2020.83

1. Garde, A., & Zrilic, J. (2020). International Investment Law and Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention. The Journal of World Investment & Trade, 21(5), 649-673. doi:10.1163/22119000-12340190 DOI: 10.1163/22119000-12340190

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.

A new groundbreaking study changes our understanding of the alcohol industry, elucidating similarities and inter-relationships with the tobacco industry.

The researchers examined the Truth Tobacco Documents Library to gain unique insights regarding alcohol industry social aspects organizations. They analyzed content directly from industry actors themselves. This way the researchers are now able to tell the story of how and why Big Alcohol began creating public relations front groups.

This podcast episode with Jim McCambridge is part of Movendi International’s work to raise awareness about the unethical practices of the alcohol industry and how to advance public health oriented alcohol policy solutions.

In this episode host Maik Dünnbier talks with Professor Jim McCambridge. The conversation with Jim provides deep insights into the evolution of social aspects and public relations organizations that operate in the interest of alcohol companies. They discuss, for example, that based on the study’s findings alcohol companies’ front groups can no longer be called “social aspects” organizations.

In this conversation Prof. Jim McCambridge shares unique insights into the origins and purposes of alcohol industry “social aspects organizations” as portrayed in internal tobacco industry documents. 

Jim McCambridge holds the Chair in Addictive Behaviours & Public Health at the University of York. Jim is also Visiting Professor at Linkoping University in Sweden, and Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle in Australia. Jim now holds a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Humanities and Social Science to advance study of the alcohol industry, public health sciences and policy. This supports one of two five-year research programmes that Jim leads. 

Jim first trained in Sociology, then in Social Work, and went on to work with drug users. His PhD study, at the National Addiction Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, was a randomised controlled trial of motivational interviewing for drug prevention among young people.

Jim’s scientific work is dedicated to policy-related research that seeks to develop our understanding of the roles the alcohol industry plays in national and international policy making context.

The alcohol industry regards the harms caused by the use of their products as a public relations issue that needs to be managed as such. So, in the 1950s the began working with the tobacco industry to devise strategies to undermine policy as well as science development.

Maik and Jim discuss what the long-term public relations goals of the alcohol are.

And they dive into three major developmental periods in the evolution of alcohol industry social aspects organizations to discuss which threats the alcohol industry felt they need to respond to and which strategies they deployed.

The conversation explores the objectives and methodology of the study entitled “The Origins and Purposes of Alcohol Industry Social Aspects Organizations: Insights From the Tobacco Industry Documents”.

Maik and Jim talk about two major questions: 

1. What is the strategic purpose of SAPROs for the alcohol industry? Why do they spend considerable amounts on SAPROs? 

In the study, Jim and colleagues show that the alcohol industry identified the developing population-level understanding of alcohol problems in the 1980 as existential threat. That is a remarkable finding and so Maik discusses this issue in depth with Jim.

There is another remarkable thought in the study:

"It is challenging to contemplate just how profoundly the alcohol industry may have biased what we think we know about alcohol.”

Jim talks about what that means and what could be done about this.

Increased pressure on risk industries to reduce their negative impact on society has resulted in an increasing volume of “risk” and “responsibility” communications from interest groups known as Social Aspects Public Relations Organizations (SAPROs). 

Building on risk industry research from the public health sphere, this article examines the SAPRO phenomenon and situates it in the political public relations (PR) literature. Specifically, it considers how SAPROs perform an indirect lobbying function on behalf of their funding industries.

The U.S. distilled spirits industry regarded the harms caused by use of their products as a public relations issue to be managed. The strategy designed by H&K was founded on the importance of managing the science in highly similar ways to the approach they developed for the tobacco companies, reproducing a playbook of key messages that have endured for decades.

• Origins and Purposes of Big Alcohol’s Public Relations Groups

A New Development in Front Group Strategy: The Social Aspects Public Relations Organization (SAPRO)

Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: [email protected].

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.