Alcohol Social Marketing Project

1
Alcohol Social Marketing Project

• Henna Ali
• Health Improvement Commissioning Manager/ Trainee
  Health Psychologist

2
Local Picture

• NHS South West Essex serves a population of
  420,000
• Covers a mixed urban/rural geography including
• relatively affluent towns of Billericay and
  Brentwood
• relatively deprived towns of Basildon and
  Thurrock
• Ten year gap in life expectancy exists between
  the most and least deprived areas

3
How Research was Conducted

• Understand local attitudes towards problematic
  drinking, alcohol-related harm and access to
  alcohol services
• Ipsos Mori commissioned to carry out this piece
  of research
• Method adopted
• Desk Research
• Stakeholder Interviews
• 2 x Workshops
• 8 x Mini Groups
• Ethnography (4 people)
• Frontline Staff Discussion Group

4
Phases of Social Marketing Research

• Phase 1 Scoping
• Understand target audience, segment population
  and collate recommendations for campaign
  development
• Phase 2 Development
• Develop intervention campaign, pre-test and
  produce implementation and evaluation plans
• Phase 3 Implementation
• Programme intervention takes place, followed by
  an evaluation
• Phase 4 Follow-up
• Feed back and discuss evaluation findings, agree
  next steps and disseminate these

5
Stakeholder Consultation

• Funding not distributed equally between drugs and
  alcohol services
• Alcohol consumption interventions need to begin
  early
• The large cost variations that influence alcohol
  consumption
• If you buy 21 units if you bought cheaper cider
  for around about 2 you could spend over 20 if
  you bought those same 21 units in a bottle of
  single malt whiskey

6
Stakeholder Consultation

• Alcohol acceptable component of contemporary
  social life
• Poor unit awareness can serve to confuse drinkers
  when similar types of alcoholic drink are
  consumed
• If they have a poor understanding of units then
  they wont know that the pint of Stella that they
  drink has more units in it than a pint of Carling

7
Findings from Primary Research

• Lack of understanding about alcohol unit
  measurement
• Social acceptance of alcohol consumption far
  beyond the unit allowances
• Becoming a parent seems to have the most
  significant impact on drinking behaviour
• Residents tend to differentiate between valid
  and non valid drinking habits, linked to
  lifestyle
• drinking a lot after working all day- accepted
• unemployed person, or a young mother who drinks
  the same amount- less accepted

8
Findings from Primary Research

• Binge-drinking is strongly associated with
  excess, and being out of control
• The ASB links are more widely cited than the
  health effects
• Awareness of local alcohol rehabilitation
  services is low
• Where services are cited- alcohol dependency
  rather than providing advice on managing
  consumption
• Alcohol and drugs services together puts
  residents off

9
Segmentation

• How the target audience differs
• Four segments established during research
• Concerned parents
• In denial homely drinkers
• Working hard, playing hard
• Hedonists

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Concerned Parents

• Profile
• Characteristics Fatalistic about own consumption
  but keen to see children make healthier
  decisions. Responsibility is passed to them
• Interventions
• Emphasise that responsibility for healthy
  drinking can be actively demonstrated, rather
  than being simply shrugged off and passed to
  children

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• Both my kids I worry about because it seems to
  be a big thing with kids these days, they seem to
  think its big and clever to go out drinking on a
  weekend
• Female, workshop

12
In-Denial Homely Drinkers

• Profile
• Characteristics Mainly drinking in private.
  Often based around family time and mealtimes,
  although drinking habits can extend beyond just
  these times. No real health concerns. Units seen
  as not applicable either- healthy, wholesome
  lifestyle cancels these out
• Interventions
• Emphasise benefits of moderation That it neednt
  affect lifestyle and that small changes can make
  positive health differences
• Highlight longer term health effects of regular
  consumption, as these are harder to conceive

13

• My dad will go to work Monday to Friday and on a
  Saturday hell sit indoors on his own and hell
  drink 24 cans of beer
• Male, workshop

14
Working hard, playing hard

• Profile
• Characteristics Drinking is integral part of
  social life, and justified as such. Not seen as
  deviant or as representing binge-drinking, but as
  respite from work. Unit guidance seen as
  unrealistic
• Interventions
• Isolate health aspects of consumption from social
  aspects and justifications that residents give.
  Realistic advice will resonate more than
  evangelical-sounding promotion, which are seen as
  unrealistic and preachy, and so ignored

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Quotes

• You dont go out to get lashed but you work so
  hard that you have very little time to socialise
  anyway, so therefore you try to cram it all inI
  think its the state of the UK generally
• Female, discussion group
• Ive never had a drink which has made me
  violent, Im just out there having a better time.
  Its just nice to relax
• Male, workshop

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Hedonists

• Profile
• Characteristics No concern for health
  consequences of drinking. Where applicable, other
  exercise and lifestyle choices seen to balance
  these out. Hedonists are mainly men but can be
  women, too
• Interventions
• Hedonists want to switch off, they will not, and
  believe they cannot, adhere to drinking
  guidelines seen as intruding on activity they
  cherish. If they can be captivated and shown that
  moderation can have positive results they may be
  more receptive
• Emphasise that exercise does not cancel out all
  the effects of consumption

17

• The measure of a good night out is how much
  damage youve done to yourself the next day
• Male, workshop

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Recommendations

• People are not willing to manage their drinking
  within unit allowances as these are seen as
  unrealistic, and are often ignored
• Health messaging needs to move beyond the limits
  of units and align itself more closely with the
  lifestyles of people
• Little awareness of alcohol health services in
  the area- much larger development needed
• A clearer separation between alcohol and drug
  services would help improve perceptions

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Way Forward
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• Any questions?
• Henna.ali_at_swessex.nhs.uk