Anti-binge ads are "pretty dull", argues health chief

A health chief has today branded anti-binge government campaigns as "pretty dull" and argued that trying to "persuade" people not to drink too much is not enough.

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said the best way to tackle the issues was through increasing taxes and introducing minimum pricing - and cheap alcohol in the home was adding to the problem.

Speaking at a conference on women and binge-drinking, Shenker said if people could be "persuaded" not to drink too much "that would be a wonderful thing". But he added: "I just don't buy that."

"Stamping out loss-leaders from supermarkets and raising the price could be the quickest way to minimise harm to young people," he said.

He later added: "Some government adverts are pretty dull, it has to be said."

However Shenker, who admitted he enjoyed visiting "well-run" pubs, did not directly acknowledge the £100m Campaign for Smarter Drinking launched earlier this year by the drinks industry, backed by the Department of Health.

Cheap alcohol being brought into the home by parents was also contributing to the problem of young people and alcohol, Shenker added.

"There's more incentive because it's cheaper and there's more alcohol in the home," he said, pointing to figures showing that 80 per cent of 11-15 year-olds with parents who disapproved had not drunk alcohol.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, Shenker revealed, is due to launch a campaign next year encouraging parents to be more responsible about the messages they pass on to their offspring about alcohol.

And on the issue of underage sales, Shenker called for the Challenge 25 scheme to become a condition of licence for all off-licences.

Earlier, at the event organised by the charity YWCA, Professor Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said women were the "new kids on the block" when it comes to binge-drinking.

But he said they were catching up with men, with a rise of 50 per cent in the last five years of young women in the North West being treated for alcohol problems.

Gilmore also pointed to a rise in the problem of passive drinking, arguing "we should be emphasising this much more".

In also backing calls for minimum pricing, Gilmore criticised Gordon Brown for suggesting it will hit the responsible majority and introducing it will be "missing an opportunity to save lives".

But he concluded: "We are not calling for a return to prohibition."