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Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis

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  • Nason Maani Hessari

    (Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; London WC1H 9SH, UK)

  • May CI van Schalkwyk

    (Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London W6 6RP, UK)

  • Sian Thomas

    (Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1H 9SH, UK)

  • Mark Petticrew

    (Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1H 9SH, UK)

Abstract

There are concerns about the accuracy of the health information provided by alcohol industry (AI)-funded organisations and about their independence. We conducted a content analysis of the health information disseminated by AI-funded organisations through Twitter, compared with non-AI-funded charities, to assess whether their messages align with industry and/or public health objectives. We compared all tweets from 2016 from Drinkaware (UK); Drinkaware.ie (Ireland); and DrinkWise (Australia), to non-AI-funded charities Alcohol Concern (UK), Alcohol Action Ireland, and FARE (Australia). Industry-funded bodies were significantly less likely to tweet about alcohol marketing, advertising and sponsorship; alcohol pricing; and physical health harms, including cancers, heart disease and pregnancy. They were significantly more likely to tweet about behavioural aspects of drinking and less likely to mention cancer risk; particularly breast cancer. These findings are consistent with previous evidence that the purpose of such bodies is the protection of the alcohol market, and of the alcohol industry’s reputation. Their messaging strongly aligns with AI corporate social responsibility goals. The focus away from health harms, particularly cancer, is also consistent with previous evidence. The evidence does not support claims by these alcohol-industry-funded bodies about their independence from industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Nason Maani Hessari & May CI van Schalkwyk & Sian Thomas & Mark Petticrew, 2019. "Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-12, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:892-:d:213081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Charles D. H. Parry & Niamh Fitzgerald, 2020. "Special Issue: Alcohol Policy and Public Health—Contributing to the Global Debate on Accelerating Action on Alcohol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-7, May.
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    5. Maria Margarida Paixão & Mélissa Mialon, 2019. "Help or Hindrance? The Alcohol Industry and Alcohol Control in Portugal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-10, November.

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