Results from the 2015 British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey have been released, identifying public viewpoints towards key alcohol policy areas such as minimum pricing, drink driving and advertising regulation.
Commissioned by Public Health England, the results indicate the highly contested issue of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) is currently supported by 52% of adults in Britain, with 25% against it. Although previous BSA surveys have not asked these questions, a somewhat similar 2011 YouGov survey found 47% were in favour of MUP with 44% against, suggesting an increase in public support - or perhaps at least a decrease in opposition.
Previous research suggests opposition to MUP may be largely due to misunderstanding of the policy, particularly in terms of how it is expected to work on a population rather than individual level. Essentially advocates expect decreases in consumption across the population of heavier drinkers will be seen based on other examples such as Canada and the various Sheffield models for the UK. Opponents, largely sections of the alcohol industry, say MUP is a blunt measure that will "penalise responsible drinkers". Sheffield's modelling though disagrees.
Public attitudes however vary dependent on a range of factors, most notably how much people drink themselves. Those who drink the most, classified as ‘increasing-risk drinkers’ in the BSA (all drinkers above 'lower risk'), are significantly less likely to support MUP than others. Less than one-third of 'increasing risk' drinkers (32%) supported MUP, compared with over half (53%) of ‘lower-risk drinkers’ and 61% of non drinkers. Almost half (48%) of ‘increasing-risk drinkers’ are against the idea of MUP, compared with one-quarter (25%) of ‘lower-risk drinkers’. Notably higher risk drinkers are also more likely to disagree with the alcohol guidelines as recently identified.
Those who supported MUP were most likely to choose reasons as: “to help stop young people drinking alcohol or drinking too much of it” (66% of those in favour of MUP); “to help tackle health problems from drinking” (64%); “to help tackle problem behaviour from drinking” (61%); and “to help tackle problems caused by alcohol generally” (61%).
The most commonly chosen reasons for being against MUP were: “that if people want to drink, they will do so whatever the price” (59%); “it won’t make any difference to how much people drink” (49%); and “it won’t make any difference to how much heavy drinkers drink” (47%).
Perhaps a sign that the often repeated message of MUP opponents is getting through though; 52% agreed that MUP would be 'unfair to sensible drinkers', compared with 30% who disagreed. A lower proportion agreed that MUP would be unfair to people on lower incomes; 35%, compared with 43% who disagreed. However 24% of drinkers say that MUP would be very or fairly likely to cause them to drink less alcohol - interestingly with little difference between lower and increasing risk drinkers. Advertising & sponsorship
The BSA survey explored attitudes in relation to advertising on TV in general, on TV ads during programmes watched by young people, and on social media. Indeed advertising remains a further contested policy area with particular calls to protect children from alcohol advertising which has been associated with increased drinking.
The public were evenly split on whether alcoholic drinks companies should be allowed to advertise on TV, with 45% saying that alcohol TV ads should “definitely” or “probably” be banned, while 44% think that they should definitely or probably not be.
Over half (55%) think that advertising by alcoholic drinks companies on social media should “definitely” or “probably” be banned. Around three-quarters (76%) support a ban on alcohol adverts during programmes watched by young people, with 17% being against a ban.
The public were fairly evenly split between those that were against, supported or were unsure either way on the issue of sports or festival sponsorship. Slightly more people (36%) agree that it is acceptable for an alcoholic drinks company to sponsor a music festival than think it is acceptable for such a company to sponsor a sporting event (30%).
Attitudes again varied amongst different groups with older and lower risk groups more likely to support advertising and sponsorship restrictions.
Drink driving
A clearer consensus in public attitudes could be seen towards drink driving, with over three-quarters (77%) of people believing that the amount of alcohol drivers are allowed to drink should be reduced, including half of people who were strongly in favour of the drink-drive limit being lowered.
Women (82%) were more likely than men (72%) to think that the drink-driving limit should be reduced, and differences between attitudes of different risk groups and ages were also less pronounced.
Units, health and is it GPs 'business'?
Knowledge on units was found to vary widely, with 58% able to accurately identify the number of units in a pint of beer, compared with only 19% of people able to do so for a bottle of wine. While only 6% of people under-estimated the number of units in a pint of beer, two-fifths underestimated the number of units in a bottle of wine.
On health harms, whilst most people (93%) knew that liver disease can be caused by excessive drinking, less than two-fifths (37%) could accurately identify cancer risk. The proportions thinking this in relation to other conditions were : high blood pressure (72%); heart disease (62%); depression (58%); stroke (44%); and diabetes (42%).
Nearly three-quarters (74%) were in favour of the requirement for all bottles and cans of alcohol to show information about the risks of drinking too much, though calorie labelling was not asked; 67% support it according to a 2014 RSPH report.
On the issue of the public discussing their alcohol consumption with their GP, 75% reported feeling “very comfortable” with a further 20% feeling “fairly comfortable”. Only 2% would feel “fairly uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable”. Over four-fifths (85%) of people said that they “would answer completely honestly”, while 14% say that they would “bend the truth a little”. Sixty-two per cent of ‘increasing-risk drinkers’ said they would answer honestly.
Does public opinion matter?
Current Government alcohol policy would suggest there is not likely to be any changes on MUP, advertising or drink driving anytime soon. Indeed Wales' ambition for MUP through devolving pricing policy appears to have been halted by Westminster. MUP though may officially still be considered 'under review', but is unlikely to warrant any serious consideration until at least Scotland have been able to achieve their long running bid to do so.
In 2011 it was announced the current drink drive limit would not be reduced, despite the recommendations from an independent report to bring it in line with most of Europe, whilst calls for advertising restrictions appear to have little mainstream political traction. Health groups may feel they still yet need a further shift in public attitudes before Government policy follows.
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