ABSTRACT
Penetration of the global market is but one mechanism whereby concentrated corporate power influences consumption. The combined marketing strategies that are an emanation of concentrated corporate power have also exerted an influence on consumption and health. Public health is inseparable from the political, economic and social framework in which people live, work and die. In many countries, concentration led to a prodigious increase in the availability and diversity of commercial alcoholic beverages that penetrated even the remotest rural areas. The economic movement coincided with rapid technological strides in transportation and telecommunications, which facilitated the globalisation of marketing and managerial decision-making. As producers and purveyors of one addictive commodity, tobacco, they have brought well-tested expertise culled over many decades to the marketing of another, alcohol. Evolving marketing strategies, epitomised by advertising, brand differentiation and other promotional techniques, have abetted the creation of wants, imagery and norms that stimulate drinking and, in certain cases, alcohol dependence.
