FTC Needs Your Input! - Does Self-Regulation of Alcohol Beverage Manufacturers Work?

The Federal Trade Commission announced plans to begin a study of the self-regulation of the Alcohol Beverage Industry. The Commission began major reports on the effectiveness of self-regulation among this industry in 1999 and the upcoming study will serve as the part of the basis for their fourth report. Out of past reports have come recommendations such as the Industry should have third-party review boards and the Industry should raise their ad standards. The new report will examine if voluntary guidelines are working today to reduce advertising and marketing of alcohol to underage audiences.

So here's where you come in. The FTC is looking for public comment on the proposed collection of data from alcohol manufacturers, the first step they must take in order to conduct their study. The topics they are looking to include are:

• "the companies' compliance with voluntary advertising placement provisions, sales and marketing expenditures;
• the status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with voluntary advertising codes; and 
• alcohol industry data-collection practices."

To share your comment on this issue click here.

The Marin Institute has also released a report on this topic titled, "Why Big Alcohol Can't Police Itself A Review of Advertising Self-Regulation in the Distilled Spirits Industry." It's definitely worth checking out. The report examines the code previsions the Industry is supposed to "voluntarily" follow, the number of complaints against ads violating these codes and follow-up action taken.

Let FTC know how you feel about the Alcohol Industry's self-regulation. Does it work? It doesn't take much looking into before coming to the easy conclusion of... no.