The Dubious Five

Exposing alcohol industry strategies is the key step towards countering them.

The DUBIOUS FIVE outlines the five key ways the alcohol industry sabotages, manipulates, deceives, normalizes and promotes alcohol, and undermines policies that reduce alcohol use and save lives.

Deception

Deception is Big Alcohol’s activity to hinder and obscure public recognition of the real effects of alcohol. The focus of the DUBIOUS FIVE strategy of deception is the public’s recognition of the full extent of alcohol harm, the understanding of the risk caused by alcohol products, and the root causes of alcohol harm and their most effective alcohol policy solutions. Using deception strategies Big Alcohol seeks to fuel cognitive dissonance among the public.

Manipulation

Manipulation is Big Alcohol’s activity to control its image. The alcohol industry engages in manipulation activities to protect and cultivate their image and the values of their brands. Deploying manipulation strategies serves for Big Alcohol to appear as “good corporate citizens”. The focus of the DUBIOUS FIVE strategy of manipulation is the alcohol company, their brands and value. Examples are Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), green-washing, pink-washing, rainbow-washing, or white-washing activities.

Political interference

Political interference, or lobbying, is Big Alcohol’s activity to eliminate or minimize any alcohol policy effort that would threaten sales and profits. The focus of this Dubious 5 strategy is the decision-makers and opinion leaders with the power to shape and decide alcohol policy decisions. Tactics of political interference are delay, derail, or even destroy alcohol policy initiatives, and to divide coalitions supporting alcohol policy initiatives. Big Alcohol is paying lobbyists and lobby front groups to interfere in public health policy making around the world.

Promotion

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.

Sabotage

Sabotage is Big Alcohol’s activity to avoid, violate, and undermine society’s rules, laws, and regulations. Sabotage is Big Alcohol’s strategy to deliberately destroy, damage, or undermine the rules and proper functioning of central institutions of society and democracy, hindering them from responding to alcohol harm in the public interest. Examples of the Sabotage strategy are corruption, bribery, tax evasion and avoidance, breaching alcohol marketing rules, price cartels, and much more.