ABSTRACT
In 2009 my colleagues and I at Marin Institute (now Alcohol Justice) published what was to our knowledge the first examination of alcohol promotion on Facebook and the platform’s policies regarding such promotion (Mart et al., 2009). We found pervasive messages promoting alcohol brands and dangerous drinking behaviours in paid brand advertising and in free brand and product pages, events, groups and user engagement. We made recommendations to alcohol producers, Facebook and other social networking sites (SNS) in the peer-reviewed journal article, as well as directly to company representatives. Six years later, research studies and reports from around the globe have echoed and expanded upon our initial recommendations and documented the continued proliferation of alcohol promotion on SNS. Yet, as of late 2015, corporate entities and governments have largely ignored public health recommendations to protect youth and reduce the risks from oversaturation and overexposure to digital alcohol marketing.
