Call to ban alcohol advertising rubbished
Calls to impose heavy restrictions on alcohol advertising would lead to job losses while failing to tackle underage drinking, according to industry trade groups.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has hit back at fresh claims from health group Alcohol Concern that restricting advertising would lead to a drop in underage consumption.
WSTA chief executive Jeremy Beadles said: "Alcohol Concern's claim that advertising of alcohol drinks leads to higher levels of drinking among under 18s is not supported by the evidence."
Beadles pointed to a Stirling University study that found no link between awareness of alcohol marketing at age 13 and the onset of drinking.
Among other measures, Alcohol Concern is calling for is a 9pm watershed ban on alcohol marketing on TV and radio.
It also wants a total ban on alcohol marketing and sponsorship on the internet, on billboards and at sport and music events.
Beadles added: "The truth is that the marketing and advertising restrictions Alcohol Concern seeks would hit the pockets of millions of consumers and threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people working in the media, advertising and television, not to mention the drinks industry.
"Worse still the proposed restrictions would do nothing to address the root causes of alcohol misuse."
His view was backed by the British Beer & Pub Association, which dismissed Alcohol Concern's call as "so last century".
A spokesman said: "This study by Alcohol Concern clearly shows that all alcohol advertising around the World Cup fully complied with current independent regulation.
"Calls for a watershed ban are so last Century. In an age of Sky plus and people watching TV programmes at any time they choose on the internet, what is the watershed?
"The evidence in this report is that alcohol advertising is not aimed at children and the bottom line here is it's illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18."
In a report launched today, as part of Alcohol Awareness Week, Alcohol Concern said that up to 1.6m children viewed adverts during the England versus Algeria World Cup match in the summer.
The alcohol adverts were all shown between 8-10pm within advertising regulations.
And in a separate study of 11 to 18-year-olds in the East Midlands, London and the North West, Alcohol Concern found that on average children were exposed to the equivalent of four alcohol adverts in the course of one day.
Alcohol Concern chief executive, Don Shenker said: "It is simply unacceptable that vast numbers of children are so frequently exposed to alcohol advertising, leading to higher levels of drinking among young people and increasingly higher levels of harm.
"Alcohol producers and advertising regulators are clearly not taking their responsibilities seriously enough and only a watershed ban on TV and an internet ban will prevent the vast majority of children from being exposed to alcohol marketing."
Professor Ian Gilmore of the Royal College of Physicians added: "The evidence is clear - children are affected by alcohol marketing. It influences the age at which they start drinking and how much they then drink. Alcohol is a drug of potential addiction and if drinks producers and retailers won't stop pushing it at our children then urgent and tough legislation is needed to protect them"
