Alcohol Advertising Pre-Vetting Scheme

The Alcohol Advertising Pre-Vetting Scheme is part of the ABAC Scheme.

The AAPS Scheme began in 1992. It currently provides a valuable, confidential user-pays service to alcohol advertisers by assessing proposed advertisements against the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code at an early stage of campaign development.

This provides some level of assurance, but no guarantee, against the possibility (and costs) of an advertisement being later ordered out of the marketplace – via the independent ABAC complaint processes.

In 2005 11 percent of proposed advertisements were rejected outright at the pre-vetting stage under AAPS – stopping them from ever being broadcast or printed. A further 4.5 percent of proposed advertisements were only approved after modification. This is in line with previous years.

Between 1992 and 2004, the AAPS Scheme only involved beer and spirits advertisers. In 2004 winemakers joined AAPS as a direct result of a review of The ABAC Scheme, initiated by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy.

In December 2005 the ABAC Rules & Procedures were formally amended to accommodate the AAPS scheme under the umbrella of The ABAC Scheme.

Advertisers who wish to use the AAPS can find the necessary forms here.