Help or Hindrance? The Alcohol Industry and Alcohol Control in Portugal

Abstract

The influence of the alcohol industry, also known as “corporate political activity” (CPA), is documented as one of the main barriers in implementing effective alcohol control policies. In Portugal, despite an alcohol consumption above the European average, alcohol control does not feature in the current National Health Plan. The present research aimed to identify and describe the CPA of the alcohol industry in Portugal. Publicly-available data published between January 2018 and April 2019 was extracted from the main websites and social media accounts of alcohol industry trade associations, charities funded by the industry, government, and media. A “Policy Dystopia” framework, used to describe the CPA strategies of the tobacco industry, was adapted and used to perform a qualitative thematic analysis. Both instrumental and discursive strategies were found. The industry works in partnership with health authorities, belonging to the national task force responsible for planning alcohol control policies. Additionally, it emphasizes the role alcohol plays in Portuguese culture as a way to disregard evidence on control policies from other countries. This paper presents the first description of CPA by the alcohol industry in Portugal and provides evidence for the adoption of stricter control policies in the country.

The Science for Profit Model—How and why corporations influence science and the use of science in policy and practice

“…For example, it could be used to ascertain whether and how industry strategies change over time and place, and in response to policy interventions (that is, do industries diversify their scientific strategies when their activity is restricted in some areas), or to examine the strategies used by additional industries, extending the typology where appropriate. This has been done in a similar fashion with the initial evidence-based typologies of corporate policy influence strategies [10][11][12], which have then been used to investigate the corporate political activity of other industries [9,[66][67][68].…”

Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries

“…The PDM's ongoing relevance to contemporary tobacco industry influence in high-income countries (HICs) has been established 14 15 and research using the PDM and the previous reviews also showed that alcohol, food and gambling companies use broadly similar strategies. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] However, a potential weakness remains that the PDM mostly draws on evidence from HICs. Eighty per cent of the papers (52 papers) included examined corporate political activities in HICs, and less than 8% (five papers) focused on low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) (the remaining eight papers had a regional or transnational focus), reflecting the literature base at the time.…”

Attitudes and practices of public health academics towards research funding from for-profit organizations: cross-sectional survey

“…This, despite the fact that the pharmaceutical industry, currently facing multiple lawsuits due to their complicity in the opioid epidemic, has a history of interference in health research and policy (Sismondo 2008 ; Bero et al 2007 ; Dyer 2020 ). The alcohol industry has successfully infiltrated government research bodies and established partnerships to bolster its influence (Readon 2018 ; Paixão and Mialon 2019 ); yet, less than half of our respondents stated that they would refuse funding from the alcohol industry (scenario 12). With regard to tobacco, although our respondents were most likely to refuse one of the tobacco-related scenarios (scenario 6), other such scenarios seemed to be seen as more acceptable (scenarios 13, 18).…”