Home > 'Zero-alcohol' products and the guise of responsibility.

Edwardes, Fraser and Keric, Danica and Stafford, Julia (2025) 'Zero-alcohol' products and the guise of responsibility. Journal of Public Health Policy, Early online, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-025-00607-4.

External website: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41271-0...

Alcohol companies have expanded their presence in the 'zero-alcohol' market with intensive product development and marketing activities. This has been framed by industry as an effort to reduce or solve alcohol-related harm. Such framing fails to acknowledge the financial benefits 'zero-alcohol' products offer alcohol companies and the ongoing concerns regarding alcohol brand marketing. To help inform an understanding of industry priorities, we looked at comments about 'zero-alcohol' products by major beer companies in online publications. In public-facing channels, 'zero-alcohol' products were discussed as tools for moderation, and their market a reflection of the 'good' that companies are doing. However, this contrasts with how they were discussed in industry-facing channels, as tools to expand markets, target new drinking occasions and compete with non-alcoholic beverages. Alcohol companies citing 'zero-alcohol' products as evidence of their commitment to social responsibility reflects a broader pattern of leveraging corporate social responsibility initiatives for commercial gain over genuine public health improvements.


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