Finland: increases in alcohol availability and consumption.

This article briefly describes the changes that Finland has undergone during the 1960-2012 period with regards to societal changes, alcohol control policies, alcohol-related harms, and alcohol consumption, after which the findings of the analyses made by Allamani and his colleagues in the AMPHORA project are discussed. It seems that despite the changes in the alcohol field, the strong and comprehensive control policy measures still have a solid footing in the Finnish society. It is also evident that the policy changes implemented over the course of the last decades have affected the development of the total alcohol consumption to a large degree in both positive and negative directions, depending on the kind of measure implemented.

Gambling operators' social media image creation in Finland and Sweden 2017-2020.

Aim: This is a first audit of how gambling operators in Finland and Sweden address citizens on social media. The study is able to pinpoint some differences between how gambling operators utilise social media in a state monopoly system (Finland) and in a license-based regulatory framework (Sweden). Methods: Curated social media posts from Finland- and Sweden-based accounts in national languages were collected from March 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The data (N = 13,241) consist of posts published on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The posts were audited in terms of frequency of posting, content and user engagement. Results/Conclusions: Operators in both countries were, in general, active on their social media accounts, but there was a decline in number of posts between 2017 and 2020. A substantial number of the analysed posts did not visually portray gambling or games. In the Swedish license system, operators seem to present themselves more straightforwardly as gambling companies, whereas in the Finnish monopoly system the image was more tied to a social role of public good doing. Beneficiaries of gambling revenues became less visible in the Finnish data over time.

Regulating Alcohol Marketing on Social Media: Outcomes and Limitations of Marketing Restrictions of Finland's 2015 Alcohol Act.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the 2015 law restricting alcohol marketing on social media in Finland. METHOD: The study compared posts that market alcohol on Finnish and Swedish social media in terms of number, content, and user engagement during the month of January in three separate years: 1 year before, 1 year after, and 2 years after the 2015 Alcohol Act came into effect in Finland. The data consisted of all posts (Finland, N = 1,536; Sweden, N = 1,204) published during the selected months by alcohol brands that had active national social media accounts at the time of data collection. The coding protocol included numbers of posts and measures of consumer engagement, as well as content restricted by the law. RESULTS: Social media posting increased between the 2014 and 2016 samples in both countries. In Finland, the number of posts decreased in 2017. The proportion of posts with content restricted by the 2015 law increased in both countries between the 2014 and 2016 samples. However, in Finland, the amount of restricted content decreased in the 2017 sample, whereas in Sweden it increased, Pearson χ2(1) = 29.273, p < .001. The level of user engagement increased in both countries between the 2014 and 2017 samples. CONCLUSIONS: The social media regulation in the Finnish 2015 amendment has had an impact on alcohol brands' social media content, but it has not affected marketers' ability to increase consumer engagement.

Compliance with regulations and codes of conduct at social media accounts of Swedish alcohol brands.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: This study has, for the first time, mapped the extent to which alcoholic beverage brands operating on the Swedish market follow national advertising regulations and industry self-regulating codes in their postings on social media. DESIGN AND METHODS: All social media content posted on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by 52 brands operating in the Swedish market was gathered from three sample months in 2014, 2016 and 2017. A content analysis was performed. RESULTS: An audit of the 1204 posts shows that the brands' social media content conforms rather well with the industry's own self-regulation codes. However, the studied beverage brands had alarmingly inadequate age-gates to social media accounts. Advertisements for alcoholic beverages must be clearly distinguishable from advertisements for non-alcoholic beverages, according to the Swedish Alcohol Act criteria. These criteria are fulfilled to a varying degree among the posts in the analysed data. Advertisements for non-alcoholic beverages give companies a greater leeway in terms of shape and content of the post through logotypes, settings and connotations. However, advertisements of non-alcoholic beverages continue to convey the brand connotations and image to consumers. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Regulating alcohol advertising in online milieus can be very difficult because of the complex mixture between quickly evolving techniques and the diverse nature of communication messages targeting consumers. Many countries, including Sweden, are now focusing on how to enforce effective policies. This short report strives to shed some light on the scope and content of commercial messages on Swedish social media platforms.

Changes in alcohol policies and public opinions in Finland 2003-2013.

INTRODUCTION: There is a constant and ongoing interplay between public opinions and public policies, alcohol policies being no exception. This article describes the development of public opinions regarding alcohol policy in Finland during a 10-year period between 2003 and 2013. Fluctuations in the alcohol policy opinion climate are put in context by looking at concurrent changes in alcohol policies and in total alcohol consumption. DATA AND METHODS: The study is based on data from opinion surveys on alcohol policies commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Finnish Social and Health Association. The opinion polls include questions about the general acceptance of prevailing alcohol policies, appropriate sales channels of different alcoholic beverage categories and opinions about the legal age limits and prices of alcoholic beverages. In the study, changes in alcohol policy during 2003-2013 are surveyed, and their relationship with changes in alcohol policy opinion is examined. RESULTS: There seem to be a strong positive correlation during the study period between the level of alcohol consumption and the share of those wanting a more restrictive alcohol policy in Finland. DISCUSSION: It seems that an increased level of awareness of alcohol-related issues among the general public created a more restrictive opinion climate on alcohol policy issues after the big alcohol excise duty decrease in 2004. The reverse seems to happen but in a lesser degree when alcohol excise duties has been increased after the year 2007.