5Marketing and advertising
78.In this Chapter we explore how energy drinks are marketed and advertised. Many of the submissions we received raised concerns about the way in which energy drinks were marketed and advertised, including through computer games, and brand association with sports events.145 As the British Dietetic Association put it:
Advertising and brand loyalty play a large part in the desire to consume these products and young people report that they see these products being advertised on television, on the internet, through sports sponsorships, video games and in shops, despite pledges from advertisers to reduce this.146
Marketing and the concept of ‘energy’ drinks
79.Witnesses pointed out that ‘energy drinks’ based on caffeine was a misnomer, as caffeine provided an illusion of energy. We were told that the use of the word ‘energy’ was associated with “positiveness”,147 and some of our witnesses chose to refer to these products as “so-called energy drinks” (see Chapter 2).148
80.We heard that children aged 10–14 had “strong brand awareness” of energy drinks.149 We took evidence from the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA), whose members include Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull and Relentless, to explore whether energy drinks were deliberately marketed at children. Oliver Strudwick at the BSDA, told us that:
there is no [energy drink] product out there that is designed or marketed in any way that is meant to appeal to children. Whether or not it does, I presume it comes down to the individual child, much as there is an appeal in any sort of food or drink product”.150
We discuss later in this Chapter evidence from Monster Energy on their target audience. Similarly, James Lowman, representing the Association of Convenience Stores, told us that the attractiveness of energy drinks was “exactly the same equation as for every other set of products. It is a combination of appeal, brand and taste”.151
81.Nevertheless, Professor Viner, President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, was doubtful that marketing influence on children was merely “collateral damage”. He told us that:
[The industry] does not put in fluffy teddy bears or do that kind of advertising to children for energy drinks, but it is very much about young-adult, cool images. It is wrong to believe that that is not exceptionally attractive to children […] The line by industry that it does not target children is true, but it is not relevant.152
We heard that for children aged 10 or over, the “coolness and masculinity, or femininity” was attractive since “they are desperate to look at the adult world and want to be adults”.153 Dr Lake told us that “for boys the bigger cans mimic cans of lager”,154 and Annabel Gipp from the British Dietetic Association pointed to “anecdotal evidence of children who are 10 years old saying that they drink [energy drinks] because they are cool and because they want to fit in with their peers”.155
Brand association
82.We also heard that several energy drinks companies associated themselves with sporting events through advertising and sponsorship. Dr Lake argued that “anything that is cool has a so-called energy drink. Music, extreme sports and car racing are all associated with these so-called energy drinks. It is not overt advertising, but it is there”.156 We were told that Red Bull’s soapbox races157 were “very appealing to children”, for instance.158
83.Sam Pontrelli, representing Monster Energy, set out the company’s rationale for associating their product with racing as a way of reaching their target audience of adults:
Monster is a lifestyle brand—a motorsports brand, primarily. Most of our marketing dollars are centred around motorsports, such as Formula 1 and MotoGP. The followers of those sports are much older than the 18-year mark. The average MotoGP fan is in their 30s. […] It is really a matter of our target market and what they like. What a 12-year-old likes is very different from what an 18 or 19-year-old likes. If we were to target our marketing at 12 or 13-year-olds, we would completely alienate our target market of 18 to 34.159
84.Nevertheless, Monster Energy also had an athlete development programme aimed at 13 to 21-year-olds called Monster Army.160 We asked Monster Energy about this apparent contradiction, and were offered the following explanation:
We pick the top amateurs in their sport and financially help them to become professionals […] Most members of the Monster Army are in the motocross field. […] The children supported by the programme] do not have any influence, because they are not being followed. Just imagine that your son or daughter is 12 years old and plays football. The only people going to that football game are the parents going to watch. It is very similar for the athletes in the Monster Army. There are no fans going to watch them play. It is strictly and athlete development programme.161
Despite this, the Monster Army website states that athletes receive “exclusive access and deals to Monster Army apparel, hats, gear and of course drinks!”, and features a photograph of a young sportsman holding a trophy and a can of Monster Energy.162
85.Darren Northcott, representing the NASUWT teaching union suggested that some parents might assume that a visible connection with sporting events meant that energy drinks were harmless, on the basis that advertising of other products was restricted:
Parents may think, “If a particular brand is advertising on an F1 car, that must be okay. They would not allow something bad to be used when advertising F1. They do not allow alcohol or tobacco in sports advertising, but they allow energy drinks, so that is fine”.163
Gendered branding and marketing
86.We were told that “gendered branding and marketing” was “an influential factor in young people’s consumption of energy drinks”.164 Annabel Gipp explained that:
when you look at the boy-specific advertising, it is all about sporting prowess, building muscle and power. Even the names of the drinks, such as Monster, Boost and Rockstar, are very emotive words young people will aspire to. There is a lot less female advertising. It has things like images of the Playboy bunny on the can, with very scantily clad women in the adverts.165
87.Energy drinks companies claim that they do not directly advertise or promote their products to children, but several leading brands are nevertheless strongly associated with sporting events which children may find attractive. The Government should keep under review whether it is appropriate for energy drinks to sponsor sporting events.
88.We believe that some energy drinks company associations with sports could be construed as advertising to children and building brand awareness among those that their products are not suitable. We were not convinced by Monster Energy’s explanation of the contradiction between claiming that children are not the target audience for their brand and providing the Monster Army as an athlete development scheme for 13–21 year-olds. While we have no wish to see the Monster Army programme discontinued, we recommend that the Advertising Standards Agency review the marketing and nature of this programme as a matter of urgency.
Advertising
89.The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is the UK’s regulator of advertising. They told us that research “consistently shows that advertising has no more than a modest influence on children’s food preferences”.166 Nevertheless, energy drinks that had a high sugar content must comply with the advertising restrictions on drinks that are high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS products), which applied to broadcast media (such as television) and non-broadcast media (such as online).167 The broadcast and non-broadcast codes of practice are maintained by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice and the Committee of Advertising Practice, respectively, and are administered by the Advertising Standards Agency.
Broadcast media
90.Advertising of High in Fat, Salt or Sugar (HFSS) products is restricted in broadcast media in the following ways:
- HFSS products are banned in children’s TV programmes; and
- Advertising is banned around TV programmes that attract a “disproportionately high” child audience of 25%.
91.Beyond these requirements, the British Soft Drinks Association told us that they voluntarily did not market through any media where over 35% of the audience was under 16.168 Energy Drinks Europe confirmed that its members abided by this rule.169 When challenged in evidence by us whether 35% was too high and would rarely apply, Oliver Strudwick, representing the BSDA, told us that this was a “standardised industry mechanism that the regulators brought in”.170 He undertook to look at what the effect would be of “dropping” the threshold. We have not received such an assessment at the time of writing our Report.
92.Andrew Taylor, representing the Committees of Advertising Practice, conceded that although the guidelines said one thing this did not always happen in practice: “if a product under the DH nutrient profiling model is classified as HFSS […] it should not be directed at under-16s by the selection of media or the context in which it appears. In practice that is interpreted in different ways”.171
93.In 2015 the then House of Commons Health Committee called for greater controls on broadcast advertising of HFSS foods and drinks, including banning the advertising of such products before the 9pm ‘watershed’.172 In 2017 and 2018 the Health Committee and its successor Health and Social Care Committee made similar points.173 The Government, in Childhood obesity: a plan for action (Chapter 2), undertook to consult before the end of this year “on introducing a 9pm watershed on TV advertising of HFSS products”. Such a consultation has not yet been launched.
94.We were told by the ASA that children’s exposure to energy drinks advertisements through broadcast media was decreasing quickly, with under-16 exposure to television adverts of this category of products now a third lower than in 2015.174 This was driven in part by a decrease in the amount of time spent watching television in favour of non-broadcast media.
Non-broadcast media
95.Andrew Taylor, representing the Advertising Standards Agency, explained that there had been “a shift away” from television as the primary medium for children “towards the online space”.175 As a result, in July 2017 rules were tightened to limit children’s exposure to advertising of HFSS products in non-broadcast media, including online spaces such as social media and computer games.176 We were told that the restrictions fell under three headings:
- HFSS product advertising was banned on websites or pages aimed at children. Andrew Taylor explained that “for example, the content on a channel on YouTube that has fairy tales on it is inherently for children. It is inherently irresponsible to put an ad for an age-restricted product around that”.177
- Individuals under 16 must not be targeted with HFSS adverts (such as through social media). Andrew Taylor explained that “in the same way as with a mailing list, if [advertisers] knowingly send an ad to someone who is under 16, it will breach the code. […] They should do their [due] diligence to ensure […] that anyone who is known to be under 16, or could reasonably be expected to be under 16, should be excluded from any dedicated targeting of individuals”.178
- A third restriction related to adverts that were contextually targeted in media that was not explicitly aimed at children. In this case, Andrew Taylor explained, “there is a requirement under the code that the marketer takes reasonable steps to understand what the audience is. At best, it means using audience data, or other sources from which they can infer it, to ensure that they are not putting their ads in places where children make up a disproportionate part of the audience”.179
96.The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) is currently reviewing the new non-broadcast rules, one year after they came into force, although it has not seen evidence of widespread or serious non-compliance so far and had received only “a handful of complaints”.180 The CAP review is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
97.We recommend that the Committee of Advertising Practice consider whether to explicitly include high-caffeine products within the scope of its advertising approach to high-fat, sugar or salt content (HFSS) foods and drinks.
In computer games
98.Dr Lake told us about “gamification” with energy drinks, where the purchase of an energy drink in the real world could provide in-game benefits:
You are taking codes off the drink can to boost your character throughout the game. There is that gamification. It is built into the culture of those computer games.181
When we looked at the labelling on energy drinks in Chapter 4 we saw this with the Monster Energy can.
99.We were told that there was “clear gamification of energy drinks” in games that were labelled as being for over 18s, but that children as young as 10 years old were playing these games.182 The Advertising Standards Agency confirmed that, as far as it was concerned “If a marketer creates a game or has an agency create one for them […] that is a marketing communication. It is exactly the same as an ad in a magazine, an ad on a poster and so forth. It would be covered by the same code”.183
100.‘Advergaming’, in contrast, refers to in-game advertising of products. Oliver Strudwick told us that BSDA members advertised in games that had age restrictions. In this case, the ASA explained that advertising within a game would be classified as “paid-for space” and would fall within the scope of the code, even if the game itself did not.184
101.The British Dietetic Association provided us with some examples of prominent energy drink sponsorship or creation of video games:185
- ‘Monster Energy Supercross’, a bike-racing game rated as suitable for ages three and above;186
- ‘Red Bull Air Race: The game’ rated as suitable for age four and above;187 and
- ‘Red Bull Snowboarding the Fourth Phase’ rated as suitable for ages 3 and above.188
We were also told that Rockstar Energy Drink had provided power up codes for players of the game “Destiny 2”.189
102.We asked Jenny Oldroyd, Deputy Director, Obesity, Food and Nutrition at the Department of Health and Social Care whether there should be further action to limit advertising in games or to stop children from accessing such games in the first place. She explained: “Many of the games mentioned are for the over-18s. Part of the issue we have is with enforcement of those restrictions”.190
103.Although there are codes of practice in place that limit the advertising of energy drinks to children (on the basis that they are usually high-sugar products), we are concerned that children may nevertheless be exposed to advertisements aimed at older target audiences. We are particularly worried by ‘advergaming’ and ‘gamification’ as a route through which young people will be encouraged to buy energy drinks, including purchases influencing progress in a game itself. Weak controls on age verification in gaming make this possible, and other games clearly produced by and associated with energy drinks companies are freely available for children to play. We recommend that the Advertising Standards Agency hold an urgent review of age verification processes used in games to ensure that children are not exposed to advertisements and game features aimed at adults. The ASA should report by the end of March 2019 specifically on the promotional games drawn to our attention (which are set out at paragraph 101 of our Report).
145 European Specialist Sports Drinks Association and European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) (END0009)
157 Red Bull, “Soapbox Race”, accessed 1 November 2018
160 Monster Energy, “Monster Army”, accessed 1 November 2018
162 Monster Energy, “Monster Army: About”, accessed 1 November 2018
172 Health Committee, First Report of Session 2015–16, Childhood obesity - brave and bold action, HC 465, para 53
173 Health Committee, Seventh Report of Session 2016–17, Childhood obesity: follow-up, HC 928 and Health and Social Care Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2017–19, Childhood obesity: Time for action, HC 882, para 41.
186 Monster Energy Supercross, accessed 1 November 2018
187 Red Bull Air Race, accessed 1 November 2018
188 Google Play, “Snowboarding The Fourth Phase”, accessed 1 November 2018
Published: 4 December 2018