Does anyone seriously believe that drink adverts encourage
drinking? I don't. I think that being in a pub and socializing
encourages drinking. Fact is everywhere you go to socialize you
are encouraged to drink by your friends, family, etc.

So banning or otherwise reducing booze adverts will not reduce
drinking.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

<http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1300686>

Adverts 'link' to binge drinking
Ministers urged to curb alcohol promotion

Mark Branagan

A CLEAR link exists between alcohol advertising and binge
drinking among teenagers, researchers said yesterday - prompting
new calls for the Government to restrict promotions by the
drinks industry.
American researchers say a study of more than 4,000 people aged
15 to 26 explodes the myth that advertising merely persuades
young people to switch brands and makes no contribution to the
amount they drink.
State by state, they found that those who reported viewing more
drink adverts also downed more alcohol - and every extra
commercial viewed per month was associated with a one point
increase in consumption.
Research leader Leslie Snyder, from Connecticut University, said
alcohol advertising was a contributing factor to young people
drinking more and more over time.
He added: "The results contradict claims advertising is
unrelated to young drinking amounts, that advertising at best
causes brand switching, only affects those older than the legal
drinking age, or is effectively countered by current educational
efforts."
The Portman Group, a body funded by the drinks industry to
promote responsible drinking, said British advertising
restrictions were different to American, adding: "The
advertising of alcohol in the UK is subject to very strict
regulation to ensure that it doesn't appeal to under-18s."
However, Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron, chairman of the Commons
Health Select Committee, said he had faced a similar argument in
his battle to curb cigarette advertising aimed at young people.
Mr Barron said: "I did not believe it then, and the same could
apply here.
"Drinking is a bit cultural so we have to be careful about
comparing like with like, given this is American research. But I
would like to see the evidence."
Yorkshire has the highest level of binge drinking and more
people dependent on alcohol compared with anywhere else in the
country, according to recent Government figures. The scale of
the problem has been highlighted repeatedly this year.
In Halifax, police swooped on the Tramshed and Zoo Bar to find
400 of the 500 clubbers under-age and girls and boys as young as
14 drinking pints of lager and alcopops, some too drunk to
stand.
In York, an inquest heard party-goer Danny Adams, 22, was found
lying dead from alcohol poisoning just yards from his home in
Cornlands Road, Acomb. In Pickering, North Yorkshire, Emma Reed,
23, plunged to her death from her flat window after downing up
to 20 alcopops.
In Bradford, a court heard how Aimee Wellock died from a heart
condition after being attacked by a woman and two girls who had
been drinking for five hours.
Yesterday Alcohol Concern urged the Government to take tougher
action over irresponsible adverts and promotions. Policy
director Don Shenker said drinking among 11- to 15-year-olds had
doubled in the last 10 years.
Mr Shenker added: "We urge the drinks industry not to advertise
its products or sponsor programmes before the TV watershed, as
the evidence shows that young people who drink are particularly
susceptible to alcohol marketing."
However, Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, MP for
Haltemprice and Howden, said: "It is American data, which makes
it more unreliable. The primary culprit at the moment is the
Government - for extending licensing hours - and not the drinks
industry."
The Department of Health said research on educating young people
about the dangers had already begun and a responsible drinking
campaign was planned for early this year.


03 January 2006