Pitfalls of Alcohol Co-Regulation: ‘Drink Free Days’ Campaign Case Study

The very existence of Drinkaware thus represents both an informational and a diversional advantage to the alcohol industry actors, by promoting favourable policy narratives and deflecting attention from more effective policy interventions such as the regulation of pricing and promotional activity.
Understanding the importance of these entities requires a nuanced understanding of corporate political strategy as subtle, ongoing and often imperceptible as has been advanced by alcohol scholars previously.
Even if the DFD campaign was not used strategically by the industry in intentional, short-term, transactional terms, it was advantageous to the industry in other ways:
Reinforcing the position of Drinkaware as a key policy actor and thus the engagement of industry-funded bodies in the alcohol policy process; and Reputational advantage to Drinkaware through the association with a government health body such as PHE.