In the Doghouse: Century Council Rebrand Rehashes Old Tricks

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April 1, 2014

Just in time for Alcohol Awareness Month, the Century Council (educational front group arm of spirits producer trade group DISCUS) has announced a major rebrand effort, changing its name to sound more like an official NGO or policy institute: Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR). Whatever this industry-funded membership group calls itself, its real mission remains--to absolve its founders and funders from accountability for the staggering harm their products cause, and to raise as much profit and goodwill for their shareholders as possible.

The new name does sound a little more grown up--like a bona fide, credible, research-based organization whose newly revamped mission is to help people drink a little less dangerously. The focus group and stakeholder feedback must have given them the green light - and hey, that's one of the theme colors, too! (Unfortunately, our invitation to participate in the stakeholder group must have gotten shunted to the Spam folder...)

But here is the reality. The corporations that fund these groups:

• Pay academic researchers to discredit the evidence of alcohol-related harm from their products and marketing tactics, and promote spurious research to support the industry/producer agenda.
• Hire public relations professionals to connect concern about just 2 of the many types of alcohol-related harm with activities that have no evidence of being effective at decreasing either harm or consumption (and support their marketing efforts and profits).
• Actively lobby against evidence-based policies that reduce harm, such as increased excise taxes, restrictions on alcohol advertising, state control over alcohol sales, and decreases in outlet density.
• Use "Drink Responsibly" as a marketing tactic to build loyalty and sell alcohol while blaming youth, parents, schools, police, and anyone else but the product and their own practices for alcohol-related harm.

The Century Council's announcement was released to coincide with Alcohol Awareness Month so that the industry voice can take over the public health discussions and events during the entire month. Industry leaders such as Diageo chief executive Ivan Menezes whine about his "right" to influence public health regulation while Diageo's (and the other spirits producers') influence protects profits and continues paving the path to harm.

Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organisation, put it bluntly: "As we learned from experience with the tobacco industry, a powerful corporation can sell the public just about anything...This is not a failure of individual will-power. This is a failure of political will to take on big business...When industry is involved in policy-making, rest assured that the most effective control measures will be downplayed or left out entirely."

The Big Alcohol conglomerates and the billionaires that run them can focus group a new name and logo for their group, slap a hashtag in front of the word responsible, go live with a web address they bought in 2001, and splash their rebrand all over the web. As long as these spirits producers' products dominate the top 10 brands consumed by underage youth (Captain Morgan, Smirnoff (Diageo); Absolut (Pernod Ricard) and Jack Daniels (Brown-Foreman), and continue to be disproportionately consumed by youth (Bacardi; Malibu rum (Pernod Ricard), we've got their hashtags right here: #hypocrite #alcoholharm #notresponsible #alcoholindustryisnotpublichealth