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.

Latest cases of Promotion

Misconduct Report Sep 30 '26 Bacardi, Heineken, Suntory
How the Alcohol Industry Opened TikTok to Marketing That Reaches Young People

Alcohol companies have moved onto TikTok with influencer videos, celebrity campaigns and branded soap operas. The industry’s own ...
Misconduct Report Sep 2 '26 Pernod Ricard
South Africa: Pernod Ricard Turns the 1956 Women’s March Into a Whisky Ad

Pernod Ricard’s The Glenlivet used the legacy of the 1956 Women’s March – and the images of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Lilian ...
Misconduct Report Jun 9 '26 AB InBev, Ambev, Diageo, Heineken, Molson Coors
Inside AB InBev’s World Cup Machine: How the World’s Largest Brewer Exploits Football to Maximise Alcohol Sales

The alcohol industry is turning the 2026 FIFA World Cup into the largest marketing offensive in the history of sports, and AB InBev is ...
Misconduct Report May 21 '26 AB InBev, Ambev
Ambev Counts Down to the World Cup. Brazil’s Children Will Pay the Price.

Thirty days out from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Ambev is escalating massive alcohol marketing fronted by national football icons and centred ...
Misconduct Report May 8 '26 AB InBev, Ambev, Diageo, Grupo Modelo, Molson Coors
How Big Alcohol Is Using the 2026 World Cup to Push Young People Back to Alcohol

Big Alcohol corporations are turning the 2026 FIFA World Cup into the largest alcohol marketing operation in the history of sport. For ...
Misconduct Report Mar 24 '26 Ambev, Heineken Brazil
Brazil’s Beer Industry Is Losing Young Consumers – and Spending Billions to Win Them Back

Beer consumption in Brazil fell 5% in 2025 – the largest reduction in over a decade – and the industry’s own trade body says ...
Misconduct Report Mar 10 '26 Diageo
Diageo Created a Lemonade to Sell Whisky Where Whisky Ads Are Illegal 

Diageo created a non-alcoholic lemonade with no purpose other than to advertise Johnnie Walker whisky in a country where advertising whisky ...
Misconduct Report Mar 4 '26 AB InBev, Grupo Modelo
AB InBev Turned Mexico City’s Main Square into a Beer Ad for 400,000 People

On 1 March 2026, Grupo Modelo – the Mexican subsidiary of AB InBev, the world’s largest beer producer – staged a free Shakira ...
Misconduct Report Feb 27 '26 Ginebra San Miguel, San Miguel, San Miguel Brewery Inc.
Targeting Gen Z: The Philippine Alcohol Industry’s Youth Recruitment Strategy

The Philippine alcohol industry is running a coordinated campaign to recruit Gen Z consumers – using flavored products, influencer ...
More articles on Promotion

Read more about the dubious five

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 Five 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.

Sabotage

Sabotage is Big Alcohol's deliberate actions to damage and obstruct people's access to public goods. This Dubious Five strategy comprises calculated actions to break and undermine society's rules, laws, and regulations. This strategy also includes willful activity that jeopardizes people's access to essential resources such as water and basic food. And it includes Big Alcohol's deliberate activities to damage or disrupt the proper functioning of society's institutions, preventing them from addressing alcohol-related harm in the public interest. Examples of this strategy include corruption, bribery, tax evasion and avoidance, price-fixing cartels, violations of alcohol marketing rules, and other unethical practices, such as depleting scarce drinking water.