It is likely that over the coming years a major battleground of the anti-alcohol campaign will be potential restrictions on alcohol advertising and promotion. However, there is no convincing evidence that alcohol advertising either increases consumption or encourages young people to start drinking, as this excellent article from Basham and Luik explains.
Based on the empirical evidence, it is clear that the public health establishment’s claims about the effects of alcohol advertising are incorrect. Indeed, the weight of the evidence substantially argues against its assertions about alcohol advertising initiating drinking and increasing consumption and alcohol-related harm. Consequently, there is no public policy justification for measures to restrict or completely ban alcohol advertising that is directed to legal consumers.Drinking alcohol is so closely interweaved into Western European society that even a total ban would be unlikely to make much difference to consumption patterns. Indeed, as they suggest, by making it seem a forbidden fruit and discouraging brand identification, bans on advertising and promotion could even serve to increase consumption.
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My father, who died in 1986, used to call himself a weekend alcoholic, he smoked also. I smoke and like a drink and a long time ago, during my wildest excesses, I asked myself, rather naively "am I turning into my dad?" who, by the way, was my stepdad and I loved him to bits. I long ago came to the conclusion that I, and I alone, am responsible for what I do and the lifestyle I have chosen.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone I have the capability to change my lifestyle! I can choose to stop smoking, stop drinking and stop enjoying lifes little pleasures like a cream cake, meaty chinese style ribs (god I'm getting hungry now) or bacon and egg. I realised a long time ago that doing anything to excess can be a killer, ask Jim Fixx, the man credited with inventing jogging, who died at aged 52, whilst jogging...oh, you can't cos he's dead!
No, advertising does not make me do anything to excess, I do.
Great link Curmudgeon.