Regulation of alcohol advertising is slipping out of the industry's hands

ADVERTISING/MARKETING: The regulation of alcohol advertising is slipping further and further out of the advertising industry's grasp.

On Tuesday the Minister for Health, Mr Martin initiated the interim report of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol and it contained key recommendations that, if implemented, could radically change both the content and strategy behind alcohol advertising campaigns. A key directive is that advertisers should "ensure the content of alcoholic advertisements does not appeal to children or adolescents".

That is also the position of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASAI) whose code is the cornerstone of the industry's self-regulatory power but which is seen as being wide open to interpretation. The report made clear, however, how exactly it views creative content by quoting a report commissioned by the Health Promotion Unit on the impact of alcohol advertising on teenagers in Ireland.

That found most teenagers believed alcohol advertisements were targeted at young people because they depicted dancing, clubbing, lively music and activities which they consider synonymous with their social activities. The younger 12-14 age group "perceived the advertising message as saying that alcohol can help people have fun, make friends and become popular".

In the older age group, 15 to 17-year-olds felt the message from alcohol advertisers was that consuming alcohol meant social success. If the Minister and his task force use this finding as a formulation of any concrete advertising guidelines, then at the very least it will mean the end of advertisers using clubs and super-pubs as places for drinks advertisements.

The task force also wants to limit where alcohol advertisements can be placed. Again this is an objective of the advertising code but the ASAI has at times taken a fairly lateral approach to its interpretation.

In the most recent complaints bulletin, a woman complained she had brought her 11-year-old to a PG-rated movie, Lord of the Rings, and an alcohol advertisement had been screened in one of the advertising breaks. The ASIA threw out her complaint.

The tone of the task force report suggests it would favour a far stronger line in reducing young people's exposure to alcohol advertising messages. The task force also wants to "ban drinks industry sponsorship of children and adolescents' leisure time activities". This could impact not only on sports events but also on outdoor concerts and festivals, which attract a significant teenage audience.

The task force recommends that a steering group be set up, comprising the drinks and the advertising industries with a view to setting up an independent monitoring mechanism. This is already under way with the task force having a significant input.

The drinks industry is part of the task force and it issued a "minority report" this week in which it took issue with many of the task force's findings. Significantly it did not have a specific problem with the findings relating to advertising and marketing which would indicate an acceptance on the part of the industry that its marketing will have to be more responsible and less youth-oriented.

bharrison@irish-times.ie