Argument to ban alcohol ads ‘misleading’

Campaigners are calling for a “phased ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship” claiming it is the only way to protect children from the harm of alcohol marketing.

It follows a survey by Alcohol Focus Scotland, Alcohol Concern, Balance North East and Drink Wise which claims primary school children are more familiar with beer brands than biscuit and crisp brands.

Recognition of Foster’s lager among 10 and 11 year olds in Scotland was 95%, ranking higher than McVitie’s biscuits, McCoy’s crisps and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

More than three quarters (79%) recognised Smirnoff and two-thirds (66%) knew WKD, the survey claimed.

In response, campaigners have said UK advertising codes are failing to protect under-18s from “absorbing alcohol marketing messages on TV, online and in the cinema”.

Professor Gerard Hastings, Alcohol Focus Scotland board member and founder of the Institute of Social Marketing at the University of Stirling, said: “This research shows that alcohol marketing is clearly making an impression on our children. Existing evidence shows that exposure to alcohol marketing leads young people to start drinking at an earlier age and to drink more.”

He added: “Alcohol companies claim only to advertise their products to adults, but children are consuming the same media and taking in the same pro-alcohol messages as adults.”

The charity is calling for alcohol advertising to be restricted to “factual information” in adult press, for cinema advertising to only be allowed for 18 certificate films, and for the phased removal of alcohol advertising adding “a ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship is the only way to protect children from alcohol marketing.”

However The Portman Group, the body responsible for the promoting responsible drinking, said drinking among young people is actually in decline and that alcohol advertising was not to blame.

“This is yet another weak and misleading piece of research from Alcohol Concern, who choose to ignore the official government statistics that show underage drinking has been declining at an significant rate for the last decade,” said a spokesperson for the group.

The number of children drinking in the UK has dramatically declined, dropping by 34% in the last decade.

“Alcohol sponsorship is already strictly controlled in the UK and drinks companies are required to actively promote responsible drinking as part of their sponsorship agreements”, the spokesperson added. “Bans on alcohol sponsorship do not reduce alcohol harms. In France, an alcohol sponsorship and marketing ban has been accompanied by two decades of increasingly harmful drinking among children and teenagers.”

Meanwhile Ian Twinn, director of public affairs at the ISBA, a trade body representing advertisers, said rules on marketing alcohol in the UK were already “very strict” with The Portman Groups’ sponsorship and marketing codes “equally robust.”

“Alcohol is not aimed at children, nor can children purchase it or consume it in licensed premises”, he said. “Where there is evidence of a problem business and our regulators have demonstrated time and again their active commitment to take action, whether that is in specific localities or nationally.”