Health Inc. Seminar Series Corporations, capitalism and the commercial determinants of health
Seminar 3: Regulating corporations: The interface between corporations and the public sector
featuring Dr. Joel Lexchin, Dr. Jürgen Rehm, and Dr. Bundit Sornpaisarn
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
12 pm – 1 pm EST
Hosted via Zoom
Zoom link will be shared two hours prior to the meeting to everyone who registers*
Register Here
This presentation will demonstrate how alcohol corporations could influence and get benefits from alcohol control policy designs and avoid the effects of established alcohol control policies. Moreover, we will show how Thai alcohol control alliances could compete with alcohol alliances in advocating for the first alcohol control law in Thailand. Examples will be given and discussed to demonstrate the influence of the global alcohol industry on alcohol control policies at the national level.
Regulating alcohol corporations is a key to controlling alcohol consumption and harm because they have capacities to both influence the designs of and avoid the effects of alcohol control policies. Using three examples from Thailand, firstly, we can see that alcohol companies could influence and gain benefits from alcohol taxation policy design. Secondly, they can adjust their alcohol advertising behaviours to avoid the effects of the alcohol advertising control law. And finally, our presentation will show how Thai alcohol control alliances could compete with alcohol alliances in advocating for the first alcohol control law in Thailand. Under the global context, the main lessons learned are that the alcohol industry, in particular for spirits and beer, is highly concentrated, with the main players being very powerful and commanding high budgets. There are many instances where the mere threat of legal actions against countries was sufficient to stop planned alcohol control policies. Examples are given to illustrate this point. Regulation is difficult, as marketing has shifted into social media, where often international laws apply and not the law of the country, where the violation happens.