Mike Daube

Selling addictions: Similarities in approaches between Big Tobacco and Big Booze

Background The purpose of this research was to identify, through alcohol industry documents, similarities between tobacco and alcohol companies in approaches to evidence and counter-arguments to public health measures. Method

Access to Confidential Alcohol Industry Documents: From 'Big Tobacco' to 'Big Booze'

BACKGROUND:

Cricket: notching up runs for food and alcohol companies?

Objective: To analyse sports sponsorship by food and alcohol companies by quantifying the proportion of time that the main sponsors logo was seen during each of three cricket telecasts, the extent of paid advertising during the telecast and the contribution by the main sponsor to this, and to describe the associated ground advertising.

It's just everywhere! Children and parents discuss the marketing of sports wagering in Australia.

Objective: To investigate how children and adults recall the content and promotional channels for sports wagering marketing.

No need for nanny

The term “nanny state” is regularly used to attack health groups or governments, especially by interest groups bereft of arguments and journalists in search of a cliché. It has become a special favourite of tobacco companies and their supporters. In the present work we argue that the term should be retired in favour of genuine debate on substantive issues.

Creating symbolic cultures of consumption: an analysis of the content of sports wagering advertisements in Australia

BackgroundSince 2008, Australia has seen the rapid emergence of marketing for online and mobile sports wagering. Previous research from other areas of public health, such as tobacco and alcohol, has identified the range of appeal strategies these industries used to align their products with culturally valued symbols. However, there is very limited research that has investigated the tactics the sports wagering industry uses within marketing to influence the consumption of its products and services.MethodThis study consisted of a mixed method interpretive content analysis of 85 sports wagering advertisements from 11 Australian and multinational wagering companies. Advertisements were identified via internet searches and industry websites. A coding framework was applied to investigate the extent and nature of symbolic appeal strategies within advertisements.ResultsTen major appeal strategies emerged from this analysis. These included sports fan rituals and behaviours; mateship; gender stereotypes; winning; social status; adventure, thrill and risk; happiness; sexualised imagery; power and control; and patriotism. Symbols relating to sports fan rituals and behaviours, and mateship, were the most common strategies used within the advertisements.Discussion/ConclusionsThis research suggests that the appeal strategies used by the sports wagering industry are similar to those strategies adopted by other unhealthy commodity industries. With respect to gambling, analysis revealed that strategies are clearly targeted to young male sports fans. Researchers and public health practitioners should seek to better understand the impact of marketing on the normalisation of sports wagering for this audience segment, and implement strategies to prevent gambling harm.

The debate on electronic cigarettes.

www.thelancet.com Vol 384 December 13, 2014 2107 preliminary evidence suggests that this has not been shared across all socioeconomic levels. Obesity is one of the few preventable risk factors with increasing prevalence worldwide. Reduction of socioeconomic inequalities in obesity is an opportunity to reduce future social disparities in health. Routine monitoring of obesity trends by socioeconomic position should be introduced to make inequalities central to policy making. Second, the composition of the obese population should be described with respect to the degree of severity. During the past three decades, increases have been reported in overall obesity prevalence, with the largest increases in the most severe obesity subgroups. Consequently, cases of severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] more than 35 kg/m2) account for an increasingly large proportion of the obese population over time. One in seven Americans are now severely obese, and the total obesity prevalence is 35% in the USA. Severe obesity is associated with greater adverse consequences than mild obesity (BMI between 30·0 and 34·9 kg/m2). Monitoring trends in the severity composition of the obese population is essential to predict the associated disease burden and inform options for intervention.

How the causes, consequences and solutions for problem gambling are reported in Australian newspapers: a qualitative content analysis

Objective: To inform public health approaches to problem gambling by examining how the news media covers problem gambling, with a particular focus on the causes, consequences and solutions to problem gambling, and the ‘actors’ and sources who influence media coverage.

“I can sit on the beach and punt through my mobile phone”: The influence of physical and online environments on the gambling risk behaviours of young men

Gambling is rapidly emerging as an important public health issue, with gambling products causing considerable health and social harms to individuals, families and communities. Whilst researchers have raised concerns about online wagering environments, few studies have sought to explore how factors within different gambling environments (both online and land-based) may be influencing the wagering, and more broadly the gambling risk behaviours of young men. Using semi-structured interviews with 50 Australian men (20-37 years) who gambled on sport, we explored the ways in which online and land-based environments may be risk-promoting settings for gambling. This included the appeal factors associated with gambling in these environments, factors that encouraged individuals to gamble, and factors that encouraged individuals to engage in different, and more harmful types of gambling. Interviews were conducted over the course of a year (April 2015 - April 2016). We identified a number of situational and structural factors that promoted risky gambling environments for young men. In the online environment, gambling products had become exceedingly easy to access through mobile technologies, with young men subscribing to multiple accounts to access industry promotions. The intangibility of money within online environments impacted upon risk perceptions. In land-based environments, the social rituals associated with peer group behaviour and sport influenced risky patterns of gambling. The presence of both gambling and alcohol in pub environments led individuals to gamble more than they normally would, and on products that they would not normally gamble on. Land-based venues also facilitated access to multiple forms of gambling under the one roof. We identified a number of factors in both land and online environments that when combined, created risk-promoting settings for gambling among young men. By exploring these contextual conditions that give rise to gambling harm, we are better able to advocate for effective public health responses in creating environments that prevent harmful gambling.

Should industry care for children? Public health advocacy and law in Australia

This paper uses examples to illustrate the challenges to health and law professionals interested in public health interventions to reduce the negative impact of companies making money by selling products that put children and young people at risk. Examples included are folate to prevent neural tube defects, with issues around the food industry attempting to block mandatory fortification of flour with folate; fetal alcohol syndrome and hazardous drinking in young people, with a focus on the actions of the alcohol industry including vendors; smoking and the ways in which the tobacco industry still target children; and childhood obesity, with problems again from the food and drink industries including vendors.