1. 4 updates

Charity urges ban on alcohol ads

A charity has called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising at music and sports events to protect children and young people from what it describes as "excessive" exposure.

Live updates

Advertisers dismiss alcohol ad claims

Advertising body Isba has dismissed claims from charity Alcohol Concern that drinks advertising is "damaging" to young people.

Isba director of public affairs Ian Twinn said:

The UK features some of the toughest advertising rules in Europe, with rules which already ban alcohol adverts during programmes where there is a likelihood of a high proportion of children tuning in.

How does Alcohol Concern explain that under-age drinking is declining in this country, where we have alcohol advertising, yet in France, where it has been banned, it is going up?

Why would advertisers want to waste money marketing to a demographic which can't legally buy their product. The truth is that self-regulation is working.

– Ian Twinn

Alcohol ads 'inappropriate' for young people

A group of young people that reviewed alcohol advertising concluded messages relayed by drinks adverts were "misleading".

Stuart O'Reilly, a 19-year-old member of the Youth Alcohol Advertising Council, said:

Young people are bombarded with adverts that may not explicitly state, but often heavily imply, messages about alcohol that are inappropriate or misleading.

This can be extremely damaging to young people who use these messages to form their relationship with alcohol.

We need urgent change to ensure young people's attitudes towards alcohol are not based on misinformation from those whose job it is to sell alcohol.

– Stuart O'Reilly

Advertisement

Kids 'know alcohol brands better than ice cream brands'

A charity has urged the UK's advertising regulators to review the rules that limit children from being exposed to alcohol advertising on TV.

Alcohol Concern chief executive Eric Appleby said children surveyed thought adverts made it look "cool" to drink to excess:

Children and young people are seeing more alcohol advertising than in the past and are better able to recognise alcohol brands than those of cakes or ice cream.

This has to be a wake-up call to the fact that the way we regulate alcohol advertising isn't working.

Young people tell us that they think alcohol advertising sends a message that it's cool and normal to drink, often to excess.

That's why we want advertisers to stick to the facts alone and for alcohol advertising to be banned at sporting, cultural or music events.

– Eric Appleby, Alcohol Concern

Charity urges alcohol ads ban at music and sports events

A charity has called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising at music and sports events to protect children and young people from what it describes as "excessive" exposure.

Alcohol Concern claims the current regulatory system is failing young people, citing high levels of alcohol brand recognition and "numerous" examples of inappropriate advertising.

Alcohol Concern claims children and young people are subject to "excessive" alcohol advertising exposure.

It is recommending new rules that restrict adverts to referring only to the characteristics of the product, such as strength, origin, composition and means of production.

The charity would also like a ban on alcohol advertising in the trailers of films shown in cinemas with less than an 18 certificate.

It also said the Advertising Standards Authority should work in a "more proactive way" rather than "depending on complaints from the public" before investigating breaches of the advertising code.

Back to top