The decision to retain self-regulation by the drinks industry is inexcusable, writes Sinéad Shannon
The Government's decision to shelve the proposed Advertising Products Bill is yet another sign that it has no real intention of tackling the problems of underage and harmful consumption of alcohol.
This move suggests that protecting young people is not a Government priority; instead it has chosen to allow the advertising and drinks industries to continue the system of self-regulation that has brought us to our current position of high consumption and ever-increasing levels of alcohol-related harm.
According to Minister of State Seán Power, the Government approached the drinks industry on this issue and was pleased the firms were prepared to be responsible about it. That the Government chose to approach the drinks industry raises many questions about its priorities. Why would it choose to ignore the recommendations of its own Strategic Task Force on Alcohol?
Why would it choose to shelve a Bill already substantially drafted in order to revisit the issue with the drinks industry? Most significantly, whose interests are served by this move? Did the Government revisit the matter with other interested parties such as young people, public health professionals or the members of the Strategic Task Force who had proposed the original legislation?
It makes some sense to discuss the harm caused by alcohol with the drinks industry; however, discussing a policy on advertising intended to protect young people from pressure to drink makes no sense at all.
We all know that the purpose of advertising is to develop markets and to sell products. The firms advertising alcohol in this country are multinationals with a duty to their shareholders and owners to generate larger markets and sell more products. We should not and cannot expect them to make public health or the welfare of young people their priority - that is a duty we entrust to our politicians.
It is likely that these companies were very anxious to avoid legislation that could potentially damage their access to young people. The proposed legislation could have restricted where advertisements were placed, limited the content of advertisements and - most importantly - banned drinks industry sponsorship of youth leisure activities. It is not surprising they responded positively to the Government's offer to discuss the issue again.
It is extremely naive, however, to expect that any system of voluntary regulation will protect young people from the pressure to drink or prevent the drinks industry from developing markets among young people.
We have a multi-tiered system of voluntary regulation whereby different bodies operate different codes. Complaints made against any advertisement are investigated and a judgment made either for or against. The view of those operating the codes is that there is a high level of compliance. However, there appears to be a huge gap between advertisements deemed acceptable by the codes and the perception that young people have of the advertisements.
A few years ago the Department of Health and Children conducted a study which asked teenagers their opinions of a range of existing alcohol advertisements to assess the impact of alcohol advertising on them. The study found the main messages teenagers got from the advertisements were that alcohol use helps to attract the opposite sex and the use of alcohol leads to friendship, fun and social success.
The study also found that alcohol advertisements use humour in a way that has a special appeal to teenagers. The way the characters dress, the games associated with alcohol, and the music used all have a particular attraction for them.
This is in spite of a code which states that advertisements "should not imply that drinking can contribute to social or business success" and "should not suggest that any drink can contribute towards sexual success or make the drinker more attractive to the opposite sex by word or allusion" and "should not feature characters, motifs, colours or styles that are likely to appeal particularly to minors".
Because advertising uses association, suggestion and symbolism to convey messages it is difficult to prove an advert has infringed the code. It follows from this that adverts showing alcohol use by attractive young people in social settings will suggest that alcohol contributes to social and sexual success.
The impact of thousands of such messages before a young person reaches the legal drinking age can only be imagined. Voluntary codes do not work and all over the world countries are turning away from them in favour of legislation.
Almost every week we hear reports of different consequences of the problem, from anti-social behaviour to drink-driving deaths, from the dramatic rise in suicide levels among young men to increasing pressure on the accident and emergency departments every weekend.
Concern about the problems caused by alcohol is now widespread. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children published a report on alcohol last year which called for a ban on advertising.
President Mary McAleese recently held a forum on alcohol and young people which discussed advertising, among other things. Young people themselves in Dáil na nÓg have made alcohol the main topic for discussion for the past two years. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has stated that ambassadors have raised with him the problems caused by young Irish people drinking excessively while on holidays.
But it is puzzling and concerning that in spite of all the evidence, the Government has chosen to go back to the drinks industry and allow it to retain the existing system.
• Sinéad Shannon is policy and communications officer of Alcohol Action Ireland, an independent umbrella organisation for groups including Barnardos, the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Association of Addiction Counsellors, set up to highlight alcohol-related harm and seek policy changes