The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has "rejuvenated" its poster campaign which aims to help raise awareness of the laws prohibiting selling alcohol to or on behalf of someone intoxicated - BBPA press release.
The BBPA says it has worked alongside Drinkaware and National Pubwatch to create the campaign, which "aims to support staff in upholding these laws and ensuring a safe and sociable drinking environment".
However the extent to which posters can change the behaviour of either bar servers or customers is uncertain; indeed posters designed to promote responsible drinking have been shown to potentially have the opposite intended effect.
Local projects evaluated by Liverpool John Moore's University (LJMU) though have demonstrated multi-pronged strategies to reduce the rate of sales to intoxicated customers could work. An evaluation of the Liverpool Drink Less Enjoy More intervention found an intervention aiming to increase awareness of legislation did significantly decrease sales to 'pseudo-intoxicated' actors.
The 'Drink Less Enjoy More' intervention though included a wide range of activities including social media, promotional materials, and other messaging targeting bars and university halls. Bar staff were also trained in refusal skills and enhanced police enforcement activity was undertaken.
Zara Quigg, a researcher at LJMU involved in the projects commented:
“Evidence shows that preventing the sale of alcohol to drunks and associated harms can be achieved through implementing multi-component programmes. The combination of police enforcement activity, bar staff training and an awareness raising campaign implemented as part of Liverpool’s Drink Less Enjoy More intervention was vital to its success”
Not just a question of refusal?
The wider issue of 'sales to drunks' though is a complicated one, as policy report released in 2014 explored. It called for a review of the legislation which is often regarded as unenforceable, in part owing to absence of a legal definition of drunkenness. However it identified that improvements could be made should policy, enforcement and retailer action be delivered.
James Nicholls of Alcohol Research UK and co-author of the One too many? report commented:
"There is no easy approach to tackling sales to drunk customers. Bar staff are often in a very difficult situation, so effective action needs the explicit support of their managers, law enforcement, local communities and the wider retail industry.
Initiatives such as this are a start, but can only form part of a wider debate about what kind of behaviours are acceptable in drinking environments, how bar staff can be supported, and how the industry can take better responsibility for the consequences of heavy drinking in and around outlets.
One too many? identifies a number of options, such as requiring outlets to have policies on sales to drunk customers (as is the the case for underage sales), that could help establish more consistency on this issue."
It may therefore be hard to argue that the BBPA's new posters and short animations are likely to make any significant impact on sales to intoxicated customers, at least in isolation. The same concerns may be leveled at the range of initiatives cited in a BBPA report last year which highlighted 'responsible' retailing practices from the pub and brewing sector.
However it could be argued that the posters may provide a useful resource for local areas who wish to replicate multi-pronged strategies far more likely to be effective. However with diminishing local authority budgets and a continued shift to off-trade alcohol sales, public health roles may argue this too would be of limited long term value without broader alcohol policy changes called for.
See here for the BBPA posters and 'Mate's in a state' and Can't get served? animations.
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