Companies are using sophisticated data-driven marketing methods to track, profile and target Australians with harmful advertising at times of heightened susceptibility.
The report by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and VicHealth found that companies marketing harmful and addictive products like alcohol and gambling are harvesting and drawing on data to push personalised digital ads, including to young people and others at risk of harm from these products.
FARE CEO Ayla Chorley said, "So much of modern life is based in the digital world, and the community expects that there are safeguards in place to protect us from being targeted in harmful ways.
"This report reveals that there are simply not enough safeguards when it comes to targeting advertising for harmful and addictive products, particularly for young people and people most at risk of harm.
"Companies are using these data-driven marketing methods that are fuelled by extensive amounts of data collected on each of us to build intimate profiles of our lives and identify how to target us. People can end up effectively being 'stalked' by advertising across multiple different apps and platforms. It's industrial-scale digital surveillance, and the practices are not transparent.
"We must consider the harm that comes from this when the targeting is for products like alcohol that are known to cause immense harm."
Oliver is a 37-year-old from Highgate Hill, Queensland and even when he chose to cut alcohol out of his life, he said he still feels like alcohol advertisements follow him around online.
"Social media in some respects has been my 'safe place', where I can connect with like-minded people and community and in some ways, it feels violated when I can't even escape alcohol advertising in these digital places," Oliver said.
"I find intrusive alcohol advertising very stressful. I have made a conscious decision not to drink, and this is not respected. I find myself in a situation where I cannot escape alcohol ads – they are everywhere – in sport, on billboards and on social media.
"I know the impacts alcohol has on people's health, and the impact it has had on me, my family and the community as a whole. We need to give people the agency to not receive alcohol advertising."
VicHealth CEO Professor Anna Peeters said the conduct of harmful industries was unacceptable and called for greater consumer protection.
"When alcohol and gambling ads are being served up in this very targeted way, harms increase. This is of particular concern when it comes to young people, and people seeking help to quit drinking or gambling," Prof Peeters said.
Key findings from the report include:
- People are profiled and targeted with highly personalised ads for harmful and addictive products when they are most susceptible to persuasion.
- Companies use data brokers and AI tools to identify and track intimate information including moods, mental health, purchasing history and movement patterns, serving up precision marketing in near real time.
- Consent is often assumed or bundled, and it is currently impossible for people to use popular digital platforms without being targeted by advertising for harmful and addictive products.ealth and wellbeing to be put ahead of corporate profits."
Professor Nicholas Carah from The University of Queensland said data-driven marketing systems are designed in ways that inherently increase risk of harm when it comes to marketing for addictive products.
"Almost real-time experimentation is used where advertising is now dynamic - one alcohol ad can have dozens of versions that are used to tailor content and target a person based on the content they will be most susceptible to. The ads are tested, refined and re-targeted.
This is marketing designed not just to persuade, but to predict who is using alcohol at high levels and disproportionately target them," he said.
The report recommends a range of common-sense measures supported by the community that will help create safer online spaces for people most at risk of harm from addictive products like alcohol and gambling.
"We need reform now," Ms Chorley said. "One Australian dies every 90 minutes due to alcohol - it's time for people's health and wellbeing to be put ahead of corporate profits."
Media outlets are requested to promote help-seeking information when reporting on alcohol and other drugs, in line with the Mindframe National Guidelines. Suggested wording relating this this media story: If you or someone you know needs support, please call Lifeline 13 11 14, the National 24/7 Alcohol and Other Drugs Hotline 1800 250 015 or 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.
