When people, especially teenagers, see alcohol linked to themes of confidence or belonging, they’re not just seeing ads, they're seeing identities. Photo: File
South Africa has a problem with alcohol, and I contributed to it. From 2002 to 2013, I worked in advertising, much of that time on alcohol brands for major producers and agents for international brands.
In strategy sessions and pitches, I don’t recall anyone asking: “Are we adding to the alcohol problem in South Africa?” Our job was to sell, not solve.
Alcohol is an addictive substance; that is indisputable. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there’s no safe level of consumption.
The focus of ad campaigns was on making alcohol feel aspirational. We’d do immersions in taverns and shebeens. We’d ask men drinking at noon what they liked about their drink. They’d say: “It’s got the most alcohol,” or “It makes me feel strong”.
We weren’t there to understand why they were drinking at midday, or if they had a job. We were there for insights.
No one I worked with deliberately obscured harm. But no one grappled with it either. The advertising industry’s lack of critical reflection wasn’t unique. Nor is my own retrospective discomfort. Abroad, former tobacco marketers Emerson Foote, Warren Braren and Alan Landers later became critics of their own work from the 60s and 70s.
The power of ads
Advertising is a powerful tool. When teens see alcohol linked to themes of confidence or belonging, they’re not just seeing ads, they’re seeing identities. Studies show early exposure leads to earlier, heavier drinking. A study in China found youth with high ad exposure were twice as likely to start drinking. The goal is early brand loyalty and normalisation of drinking.
That’s why the WHO recommends restrictions on alcohol advertising. Other countries have acted. France’s Évin Law states that alcohol ads can only contain factual product information. Norway banned alcohol advertising. South Africa’s Liquor Amendment Bill of 2016 includes an ad ban, except at the point of sale. And recently, the Economic Freedom Fighters introduced a private members’ Bill that bans alcohol advertising, sponsorships and product placement across all media.
Restricting alcohol advertising wouldn’t be curbing freedom of expression on the part of liquor producers or interfering with consumers’ right to information, as researchers at the universities of Cape Town and Bath have argued.
Yet, the Liquor Amendment Bill, which opened for public comment nine years ago, has stalled. Not for lack of evidence, but because of the liquor industry’s influence at the table. From 2017 to 2021, alcohol companies embedded themselves inside the National Economic Development and Labour Council’s (Nedlac’s) policy process, sometimes outnumbering community representatives 15 to one.
And while producers preach personal responsibility, it keeps normalising alcohol through every tactic, including pricing. Large formats such as 750ml and one-litre beers are marketed at prices that encourage heavy drinking.
In 2010, Carling Black Label ran a billboard campaign that read: “Groot man of laaitie? Vra vir die volle 750ml”. Loosely translated it means: “Big man or small boy? Ask for the 750ml”. It implied moderation was for the weak. Sonke Gender Justice complained that it promoted excessive drinking. The brand’s owner South African Breweries (SAB) pulled the campaign before the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) could rule on it.
The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB, the successor to the ASA) upheld complaints against two alcohol brands in 2025. One of them suggested that alcohol helped with workplace stress; the other depicted drinking on the beach, which is not allowed in South Africa. Both were pulled from TV but remain online.
The problem with the drink responsibly tagline
The industry loves to talk about personal responsibility. “Drink responsibly,” they say, but you can’t place all responsibility on the individual while creating messages that normalise heavy drinking. This harmful behaviour has devastating outcomes for society: homicides, crashes, gender-based violence and even residential fires.
Producers cling to a carefully crafted myth: drinking is a personal choice; all problems lie with the drinker and the producer is not to blame. Apparently, advertising is powerful enough to grow sales, market share and “share of throat”, but not strong enough to be (at least partly) to blame for harmful drinking.
The alcohol industry does have codes of conduct when it comes to alcohol marketing, such as those by Aware.org and the Drinks Federation of South Africa. By and large these aren’t ignored. Nor are the regulations set out by the ARB. These codes prohibit direct advertising to children or creating false links between alcohol and success.
But in my experience, the agency was always briefed by the brand to make the drink aspirational. Beer equals masculinity; wine equals class; cider means fun. It shows up in concerts, music videos, sports and price promos, reinforcing alcohol as part of adult success and celebration. This messaging doesn’t bypass children or the vulnerable, it surrounds them. The influence isn’t about who it’s “aimed at”; it’s about who is exposed and what is normalised.
Brands may argue they don’t advertise to minors or the vulnerable, but they advertise around them, near schools in under-resourced areas, on their favourite social media feeds, during their commute, and within the cultural spaces young people look up to. In doing so, they build familiarity, desirability and early brand loyalty.
That’s why the issue isn’t just about advertising content. It’s about saturation and context. The ad may not say “this will make you successful”, but in the ad, successful people drink, creating the life others aspire to have. Even with self-regulation, advertising outside points of sale continues to shape attitudes toward alcohol, for everyone.
This is why we need to restrict alcohol advertising except at the point of sale. This isn’t prohibition, or an attack on freedom of speech. It’s prevention of harm and protecting people from the powerful influence of advertising.
Corné Kritzinger is the communications specialist at the DG Murray Trust (DGMT). With more than a decade of experience in advertising agencies and client-side marketing before moving to civil society, he brings a non-traditional lens to his civil society work. His work now focuses on pressing social issues including nutritional stunting, early childhood development, school dropout, youth unemployment and alcohol harms.