Community Submission:
“This company has a history of aggressive and openly misleading advertising. In this case, they use an influencer who goes to an ultrasound appointment, and it turns out that the ‘baby’ is actually a bottle of brandy, supposedly promoting happiness. This is serious, as it can increase alcohol use among pregnant women, a group that should not consume alcohol at all.”
The image – a screenshot from one of the major social media platforms – shows a social media influencer holding her “baby” – a bottle of Aguardiente Antioqueño. The ad is mixing the theme of pregnancy with alcohol marketing.
This alcohol marketing tactic trivializes the serious risks of alcohol use during pregnancy, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and could normalize alcohol in a context where it is medically unsafe.
This is an egregious example of the alcohol industry – in this case, the government-owned Fábrica de Licores de Antioquia – exploiting social media and influencers to reach wide audiences with content that undermines public health guidance. The blending of pregnancy themes with alcohol branding is not only irresponsible but also dangerously misleading, especially given the influence such content can have on younger and impressionable viewers.
Promotion, or any marketing strategies, is Big Alcohol’s activity to drive alcohol availability and acceptability, to perpetuate the alcohol norm, and to place alcohol at the center of people’s thoughts and preferences, communities’ practices, and societies’ customs. The focus of this Dubious Five strategy is the people and their beliefs about alcohol products, the public and their attitudes about and behavior around alcohol products, and the consumers and how much, how often they buy and consume alcohol brands.