Alcohol industry launches £100 million repsonsible drinking campaign

A collaboration of more than 45 drinks companies and retailers have funded a 5 year responsible drinking campaign costing £100 million. The 'campaign for smarter drinking' will see the industry funded  Drinkaware trust lead on the campaign that will "offer practical tips to make sure good times don’t go bad, such as reminders to drink water or soft drinks, eat food and plan to get home safely." The campaign claims it will take a social marketing approach to "use outdoor advertising, signs, drink mats in pubs and bars, on-drink and point of sale displays in retailers to deliver its message."

However the latest announcement of more money on 'responsible drinking' campaigns has continued to anger groups that highlight a lack of evidence for such approaches. Professor Ian Gilmore, chair of the UK Alcohol Health Alliance and president of the Royal college of Physicians, has responded by stating:

"There is very little evidence that health messages work to prevent binge or harmful drinking. Instead, all the international evidence shows that increasing the price and reducing the availability of alcohol, together with bans on advertising, are the main methods of reducing alcohol-related harm. We need strong government action in these areas right now."

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, referred to a history of a softer approach to regulating the industry taken by the government: "This new initiative appears to be yet another example of the drinks industry trying desperately to avoid mandatory legislation to pass on health information to consumers."

Currently consultation is out on further measures to ensure licensed premises sell alcohol responsibly, which followed a lack of adherence to the current voluntary code of practice. However other groups, such as the BMA and Chief Medical Officer continue to call for stronger action such as minimum pricing and controls on advertising as necessary measures for reducing alcohol-related harm.

Certainly here at Alcohol Policy UK it seems we have regularly reported on new 'responsible drinking campaigns' over recent years, funded by a range of government departments as well as industry-funded organisations. Not to mention local and regional campaigns that don't make national news. Last year we reported concerns over continuous campaigns when drinks industry giant Diageo launched its own responsible drinking website.

Other recent government-funded campaigns have included those from the Home Office, Foreign Office and Department of Transport, alongside the £10 million NHS Know Your Limits campaign.

Comments

[jules]

It seems quite appalling that £100 million can be used to fund this campaign when alcohol treatment services have huge waiting lists because of lack of funding! Prevention is better than cure but for the thousands of problematic drinkers in this country already, what hope for them!