QUESTION TIME
The panel agrees that education is key in tackling alcohol abuse
be to John? Is it not his circumstances that drive himto binge drink? If we stopped alcohol advertising would John really reduce his drinking? Is this not an incredibly simplistic and patronizing view held by a committee of out-of-touchMPs, trying to find someone else to blame for the state of our society? As an owner of three
marketing agencies, one of which specializes in the alcohol and leisure sector, I find it extraordinary that a logo on a jersey, a magazine advertorial, or a glossy tv ad can hold such power as to be responsible for leading Britain into the gutter. While perhaps I should feel flattered that certainMPs believe us “advertising execs” or “alcohol marketeers” are that clever as to brainwash individuals into walking into supermarkets, bars and pubs and drinking themselves into oblivion on sight of a 30 second ad, alas I believe the problem is far graver. We work with many alcohol
brands on advertising and promotional campaigns and our employees and our clients are tirelessly working to ensure we adhere to the guidelines laid out by the government and the Portman Group. “Responsible drinking” is not a word banded about in these businesses, it is a dominant ideology that we all believe, that we all respect and that we work very hard every single day to live by. I would like to understand
which brands and which retailers disregard this inherent way of alcohol marketing, and I suggest they are the rogue independents who operate in isolation to their peers but who give the rest of us a bad name. It is these businesses that should be banned from trading, not the good guys just trying to do their job and play by the rules. If this policy were to be granted in the UK yet another sector would tumble and no doubt, the issues of our binge drinking culture would remain unchanged.
ANDREWCOWAN, COUNTY DIRECTOR DIAGEO GREAT BRITAIN
There is evidence to show that a generation which has grown up with the strictest alcohol marketing restrictions in Europe has proven to be as prone to binge drinking as any other country operating within amore liberal advertising regulatory environment. The number of young people
under 15 admitted to hospital in France for drunkenness rose by 50 per cent from2004 to 2008, and back in 1999, the then French Parliament released a report evaluating the effectiveness of the Loi Évin and concluded that no effect on alcohol consumption could be established. This view has been supported by the French National Association of Prevention of Alcoholismand Addiction (ANPAA), which concedes that the effects of the law are ‘weak’.
“Whenwe look at thewider costs to communities, sport aswell as industry, a blanket ban on advertising and sponsorship cannot and surelywill not impact society in theway it is intended.”
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