Hidden Persuasion: Big Alcohol's Tactics on Social Media
Date
Authors
McLellan, G
Lyons, A
Sciascia, A
Nicholls, R
Maani, N
Huckle, T
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Alcohol marketing is harmful as it increases the consumption of alcohol, age of initiation of alcohol and hazardous drinking patterns. Dark nudges and sludge are behavioural economics techniques used to exploit cognitive biases to manipulate consumers to make decisions that are not in their best interest. These have previously been described in alcohol industry corporate responsibility materials and in digital tools and apps funded by the alcohol industry and are potentially being used in alcohol advertising including on social media. Dark nudges and sludge are potentially very influential within digital environments due to the potential for targeted advertising, the ubiquity of smartphones, the pervasive use of social media and the nature of the marketing, which is often difficult to identify. This commentary provides background information about the use of dark nudges and sludge on social media platforms, outlines key concerns in this space for critical health researchers, and outlines some future research directions for examining the alcohol industry's use of dark nudges and sludge in digital environments, including social media.Description
Keywords
alcohol marketing, cognitive biases, dark nudges and sludge, digital manipulation, social media, 4206 Public Health, 42 Health Sciences, Behavioral and Social Science, Substance Misuse, Pediatric Research Initiative, Underage Drinking, Alcoholism, Alcohol Use and Health, 3.1 Primary prevention interventions to modify behaviours or promote wellbeing, Cancer, Stroke, 3 Good Health and Well Being, 11 Medical and Health Sciences, 16 Studies in Human Society, 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Substance Abuse, 42 Health sciences, 44 Human society, 52 Psychology
Source
Drug and Alcohol Review, ISSN: 0959-5236 (Print); 1465-3362 (Online), Wiley, 45(4), e70157-. doi: 10.1111/dar.70157
Publisher's version
Rights statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.