A multimillion-dollar deal agreed between Facebook and drinks company Diageo will fuel the under-age drinking epidemic by exposing increasing numbers of young people to alcohol marketing, health experts are warning.
Advertising to the predominantly young people who use Facebook has been hugely profitable for Diageo, which makes the drink of choice for most teenagers who can obtain it – Smirnoff vodka.
Announcing the deal, Diageo said Smirnoff had become "the number one beverage alcohol brand on Facebook worldwide". Its brands in the US had enjoyed a 20% increase in sales "as a result of Facebook activity". The deal will, said Diageo, "drive unprecedented levels of integration and joint business planning, and experimentation between the two companies".
Diageo said that more than 950 of its marketers had been trained in "Facebook boot camps" to build their social media capabilities and the company was recording "significant returns on investment" across a number of its brands. > > > > Read More
