IARD Exploits Decline In Youth Alcohol Use to Whitewash Industry Image
Posted on April 01, 2025 in AB InBev, Asahi, Bacardi, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Kirin, Molson Coors, Pernod Ricard, Suntory, Deception, Manipulation, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, The AmericasThe International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) – the alcohol industry’s global mouthpiece – has released a new report celebrating reductions in underage alcohol use between 2010 and 2020. But behind the glossy visuals and statistics lies a familiar strategy: manipulate the narrative, distract from the real problems and the harmful practices of the alcohol industry, and protect the profits of the companies that pay the IARD.
In April 2024, Movendi International reported about a WHO/Europe report that showed a concerning picture of adolescent alcohol use emerging across Europe, central Asia and Canada. The report shows that alcohol is the most commonly used harmful, psychoactive substance among adolescents and in many countries girls now consume more alcohol than boys. With over half of 15-year-olds surveyed having consumed alcohol, the risks to young people are enormous.
The data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study also highlighted the narrowing gender gap in alcohol use. The report underlined the significant long-term consequences of these trends and the importance of policy-makers taking action in response to these alarming findings, emphasizing the need for prevention strategies, such as raising alcohol excise taxes and alcohol age limits.
But these alcohol policy solutions are a threat to the profits of the alcohol giants behind the IARD.
Why the IARD Exploits Decline in Youth Alcohol Use
The IARD is the front group for some of the alcohol industry’s largest and most powerful beer, wine, and liquor producers: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Bacardi Limited, Brown-Forman Corporation, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, Molson Coors, Pernod Ricard, Suntory Global Spirits and William Grant & Sons.
The IARD didn’t conduct original research or contribute new insights. The alcohol industry front group simply compiled government and WHO data, then framed the decade-long decline in youth alcohol use as the result of “collective efforts” that include industry action. This is deliberately misleading.
Decades of data show that youth alcohol use has been falling across most high-income countries since the early 2000s – long before IARD existed and despite relentless alcohol marketing.
A 2022 BMC Public Health study explored how young people themselves explain the sharp decline in youth alcohol use. Their answers point to a mix of cultural and social shifts:
- greater awareness of health risks,
- stronger parental oversight,
- fear of losing control, and
- a preference for online socializing over traditional party scenes.
There is zero evidence that corporate “responsibility” campaigns contributed to this shift.
What the IARD report refuses to acknowledge is that this trend has occurred in spite of the alcohol industry’s behaviour – not because of it. In fact, companies such as AB InBev, Heineken, and Diageo continue to market heavily on platforms popular with youth and oppose alcohol policy solutions that actually work in protecting minors, like advertising bans, alcohol taxation, and common-sense limitations on availability.
Meanwhile, research shows that nearly 9% of alcohol industry revenue in the US comes from underage consumption – amounting to around $10 billion annually. Globally, this proportion might be even higher in countries with weaker regulatory systems.
These profits aren’t accidental; they are part of a business model that relies on early brand exposure and the recruitment of lifelong consumers starting at a young age.
The industry’s public stance against underage alcohol use is fundamentally at odds with its economic interests. While IARD members issue statements about “responsibility,” their actions – from lobbying against marketing regulations to sponsoring youth-oriented sports and entertainment – expose the truth.
IARD Deception: Positive Development Masks Concerning Trends
The HSBC data shows that alcohol is by far the most commonly used harmful substance among adolescents. More than half (57%) of 15-year-olds have tried alcohol at least once (56% of boys and 59% of girls), and nearly 40% reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days (36% of boys and 38% of girls).
While there is a positive trend that younger generations stay alcohol-free longer and consume less alcohol compared to previous generations, the levels of alcohol consumption and the age of initiation and onset into alcohol consumption are still at alarming levels.
Roughly 1 in 10 (9%) adolescents across all age groups have experienced significant alcohol inebriation – being under heavy influence of alcohol at least twice – in their lifetime.
This rate of alcohol inebriation climbs alarmingly from 5% of adolescents at age 13 to 20% by age 15, demonstrating an escalating trend in high-risk alcohol use among youth.
Furthermore, recent patterns reveal that the incidence of alcohol inebriation within the past 30 days also increases with age, jumping from 5% among 13-year-olds to an alarming 15% among 15-year-olds, highlighting an urgent need for targeted intervention strategies to curb this growing issue of underage alcohol use.
Narrowing gender gap
The disparity in substance use between genders is rapidly closing, with girls equalling or surpassing boys in rates of alcohol consumption by the age of 15. Of particular concern is evidence that alcohol use may be increasing again among girls in some countries and regions.
Research shows that young people are very sensitive to alcohol because their brains are still developing, increasing the risk to develop alcohol use disorder and addiction, as well as other chronic health conditions over the life course. The consequences are costly for adolescents, youth, and society as a whole, and can lead to physical and mental illness, educational underachievement and diminished life chances in adulthood.
While the decline in under-age alcohol use is positive in many ways, the levels, patterns, and initiation of alcohol use among children and youth are still at alarming levels. This is compounded by worrying trends of rising alcohol use in under-age girls.
But the IARD report is a thinly veiled attempt at distracting from these problems and deceiving about the extent of the problem to avoid policy action from governments and law makers.
Manipulation
The IARD’s report is a textbook example of manipulation – a core strategy the alcohol industry deploys to appear credible while blocking real progress. By exploiting and misrepresenting a global public health trend and repackaging it as an industry achievement, they aim to position themselves as partners in policymaking and defenders of youth. It’s pure reputation laundering.
This truth is revealed by Big Alcohol CEOs themselves: For example, Debra Crew, chief executive of alcohol giant Diageo and hailing from Big Tobacco, told a recent conference that “moderation” – people reducing alcohol consumption to smaller amounts – was the alcohol industry’s “biggest disrupter”, as per Financial Times reporting.
The alcohol industry did not drive the global decline in underage alcohol use – but it is desperate to take credit for it, so long as that helps delay regulation and protect its bottom line.
Sources:
https://drinks-intel.com/news/responsible-drinking-organisation-releases-worldwide-underage-consumption-update/
https://www.theshout.co.nz/global-progress-in-reducing-underage-drinking-revealed-in-new-report/