Alcohol is no ordinary commodity. Since the Code of Hammurabi in Ancient Mesopotamia more than 25 centuries ago, alcohol has been regulated in the interests of health and safety.
The World Health Organization has recommended comprehensive restrictions on alcohol marketing to address alcohol's role in accidents, injuries and chronic diseases. Given the heavy toll of alcohol-related harm, and on young people in particular, it is time for serious policy conversations about reducing the exposure of young people to alcohol marketing and sports sponsorship.
Alcohol marketing and sponsorship have become pervasive and insidious with the recent concentration of the alcohol industry into transnational corporations that have incorporated former national breweries like Guinness and Budweiser into globalised portfolios.
Drinking patterns are no longer taught by the family and the community, but are now inculcated through sophisticated marketing strategies that associate alcohol with sex, romance, success and an affluent lifestyle that is often beyond the reach of most people.
Alcohol marketing, in addition to appearing in movies and television commercials, frequently airs during sporting events.
Researchers in Britain found that on average 111 visual references and two verbal references to alcohol occurred per hour of televised English professional football. In televised international football, they found an average of 1.24 references to alcohol per minute. During the World Cup games, the exposure of young persons to alcohol marketing reached unprecedented levels, with millions of children and young adults exposed to sophisticated images of alcohol-related themes and branding through TV ads and sideboard postings of company names and logos.
Source: Thomas Babor and David Jernigan, Irish Independent, 22/04/15
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