World Federation of Advertisers

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

The World Federation of Advertisers is a global organization representing the common interests of marketers.

According to its website it has "Through its network of 55 national advertiser associations on five continents and approximately 50 of the world’s top 100 marketers, WFA represents around 90% of global marketing communications, almost US$ 700 billion annually. WFA champions responsible and effective marketing communications worldwide."

Affiliations

• founding member of the Advertising Education Forum(AEF).
• founding member of the European Alcohol and Health Forum
• member of the European Task Force on Marketing Communications

Children and advertising

The WFA had a programme called the Responsible Advertising and Children Programme (RAC). According to their website the RAC is

"a cross-industry platform facilitated by WFA that brings together marketers, the media, agencies and partners from sectoral associations to provide global leadership by championing good practices in marketing communications to children.

RAC helps its members to anticipate and understand societal and parental aspirations regarding responsible marketing communications and children. This exercise is shaped by a continued dialogue and engagement with policy-makers, society and consumers.

RAC promotes and defends responsible marketing communications, ensures companies’ codes of conduct respond to market sensitivities and that regulatory discussions are supported by a coordinated industry response born from robust scientific evidence.

RAC members are committed to developing and promoting media literacy projects such as MediaSmart in schools worldwide. MediaSmart is widely recognized by regulators, teachers and consumer groups as an effective and future-proof response to the challenge of protecting minors in a rapidly changing media environment. "

Alcohol Advertising in Europe

The World Federation of Advertisers worked with leading global alcohol companies AB InBev, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Carslberg, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and SABMiller to develop the Responsible Marketing Pact. The scheme standardises marketing initiatives for the first time across wines, beers and spirits across European countries. The initiative is designed to bolster self regulatory schemes for promoting alcohol by standardising initiatives across products and countries.

The press release announcing the initiative links the scheme to commitments given through the European Alcohol and Health Forum although the Responsible Marketing Pact had already been developed by the WFA and the alcohol industry before being presented to the forum.

Members

Adidas | Daimler | AB InBev | Nokia | At and T | Johnson & Johnson | Groupe Carrefour | Danone | Bacardi | Kimberly Clark | Deutsche Telekom | Johnson |Intel | Coca-Cola | Pernod Ricard | Gruma | Kellogg's | TATA | Novartis | BDF Beiersdorf | LEGO | Beam Global Spirits and Wine | Diageo | Proctor & Gamble | Molston Coors | LVMH | SABMiller | Carlsberg | Ferrero | General Mills | Fosun | Brown Forman | Binochem | Wrigley | L’Oreal | Mars | Heineken | Orange | Hershey’s | Mastercard | Pepsico | Colgate Palmolive | CPW | Boehringer Ingelheim | BP | McDonald's |Henkel | Mattel | Philips | Shell | Telefonica | Hasbro | Muller | Nestle | Kraft Foods | Vodafone | Indesit | Reckitt Benckiser | Microsoft | Coty | GlaxoSmithKline | UB Group | Unilever | VISA | Red Bull | UCB | American Express | Ikea | Luxottica | Metro Group | Bimbo | Barclays | Itau

Website and contact

• Address: 120 Avenue Louise, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
• Tel: +32 (2) 502 57 40
• Fax: +32 (2) 502 56 66
• E-mail: info@wfanet.org
• website: http://www.wfanet.org