New Set of "House Rules" for Distilled Alcohol Promotion

Bacardi's new look on Facebook.

The Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) is enforcing a new set of self-regulatory guidelines for promoting their products on the web. Starting September 30, 2011 the social networking pages of alcoholic brands will restrict access to customers over 21 years old and promoters will be required to monitor the page for inappropriate posts in order to promote responsible drinking. 

Among six other basic principles in the Digital Communications Guidelines, DISCUS suggests that at least 71.6% of a medium's audience be of The United States' legal drinking age. According to Nielsen data the most popular social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, this requirement is satisfied by 80%. These social networking pages will resemble official brand websites by requiring viewers to enter their date of birth before entering the page. 

In order to aid brands in staying within the guidelines a list of six "Definition and Guidance to Implement Principles" is provided. One of the most important is the disclaimer concerning the removal of inappropriate user generated content. In public relations it's important communication remains a two-way street and explain to participants why their content may be removed. 


The real question is, how successful will these guidelines really be in an environment that is constantly changing at an exponential rate? There are easy ways for minors to get around the age restrictions and monitoring UGC can be time consuming tedious task. Overall, DISCUS' main focus is to represent  "America's leading distillers" and the new self-regulatory guidelines is a PR move to enhance their social responsibility image.