Self-appointed alcohol ad watchdog upholds 9 in 10 cases; AANA slams ‘PR stunt’ for falsely generating complaints

The Alcohol Advertising Review Board, an action group set up by health campaigners frustrated with the current alcohol advertising self-regulation system, has published its latest round of determinations.

Of 94 complaints reviewed from August 2012 to date, just eight cases were cleared of any wrongdoing by the body, which was set up by the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth and Cancer Council WA last year.

This means that, by the AARB‘s reckoning, roughly nine in ten booze ads that prompt complaints are in some way inappropriate.

The AARB has prompted a stern response from the Australian Association of National Advertisers, which has labelled the Perth-based lobby group “a PR stunt” with no ability to resolve complaints.