Industry Actors, Think Tanks, and Alcohol Policy in the United Kingdom
Open Access
- 1 August 2014
- journal article
- Published by American Public Health Association in American Journal of Public Health
- Vol. 104 (8), 1363-1369
- https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2013.301858
Abstract
Corporate actors seek to influence alcohol policies through various means, including attempts to shape the evidential content of policy debates. In this case study, we examined how SABMiller engaged the think tank Demos to produce reports on binge drinking, which were heavily promoted among policymakers at crucial stages in the development of the UK government’s 2012 alcohol strategy. One key report coincided with other SABMiller-funded publications, advocating measures to enhance parenting as an alternative to minimum unit pricing. In this instance, the perceived independence of an influential think tank was used to promote industry interests in tactics similar to those of transnational tobacco corporations. This approach is in keeping with other alcohol industry efforts to marginalize the peer-reviewed literature.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- The relationship between minimum alcohol prices, outlet densities and alcohol-attributable deaths in British Columbia, 200209Addiction, 2013
- Industry Use of Evidence to Influence Alcohol Policy: A Case Study of Submissions to the 2008 Scottish Government ConsultationPLoS Medicine, 2013
- Cleavages and co-operation in the UK alcohol industry: A qualitative studyBMC Public Health, 2012
- Alcohol and tobaccoAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2012
- Global Alcohol Producers, Science, and Policy: The Case of the International Center for Alcohol PoliciesAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2012
- Corporate strategy, corporate capture: Food and alcohol industry lobbying and public healthCritical Social Policy, 2010
- Vested Interests in Addiction Research and Policy Alcohol policies out of context: drinks industry supplanting government role in alcohol policies in sub‐Saharan AfricaAddiction, 2009
- Relationship between Funding Source and Conclusion among Nutrition-Related Scientific ArticlesPLoS Medicine, 2007
- Liver cirrhosis mortality rates in Britain, 1950 to 2002The Lancet, 2006
- Medical Journals Are an Extension of the Marketing Arm of Pharmaceutical CompaniesPLoS Medicine, 2005