The British Medical Association’s (BMA) call for a total ban on alcohol advertising seems born of the hope that if we don’t talk about alcohol it’ll go away.
Would this work? Do we need such drastic action? Each year £800m is spent on alcohol promotion in the UK, but it’s an area that’s already so heavily regulated that a summary of all the caveats and restrictions on alcohol adverts would fill a weighty tome – marketers shouldn’t suggest it boosts popularity, confidence, social success, daring, attractiveness, sporting prowess . . . and certainly alcohol adverts are prohibited from making any association with young people.
With little leeway left, sponsorship seems an obvious promotional choice, but the BMA argues that it’s precisely this (at sports and music events) that draws in young people.
And that’s not all that’s going wrong. Mintel reports that increasingly strong alcohol products are fuelling a culture of unwitting excess – as a nation, the UK’s drinking less often, but drinking stronger stuff.
The best course of action for alcohol brands? Why not drop oblique promotional techniques such as sponsorship and take a more up-front approach to alcohol-by-volume; raise public awareness about health issues; and empower consumers to make their own choices – let’s not “spike” the nation’s drink.
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