Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing

By Gillian Bell, Senior Communications Coordinator, Alcohol Focus Scotland

In a new report, Promoting good health from childhood: Reducing the impact of alcohol marketing on children in Scotland, leading academics and health experts outline how the Scottish Government can reduce the unacceptably high levels of alcohol marketing that children and young people are exposed to.

Alcohol Focus Scotland was asked by Ministers to facilitate an international expert group on alcohol marketing to advise on the most effective policy options available and how they might be implemented in Scotland. The group’s recommendations include:

• removing alcohol marketing from public spaces such as streets, parks, public transport and sports grounds
• ending alcohol sponsorship of sports, music and cultural events
• pressing the UK government to introduce restrictions on TV alcohol advertising between 6am and 11pm, and to restrict cinema alcohol advertising to 18-certificate films
• limiting alcohol advertising in newspapers and magazines to publications aimed at adults
  restricting alcohol marketing on social networking sites

The report also recommends setting up an independent task force on alcohol marketing to remove the regulatory role of the alcohol industry.

More than 30 organisations, including the Scottish Cancer Prevention Network, Children 1st and the medical Royal Colleges, as well as the majority of MSPs (72), have pledged their support to end alcohol marketing in childhood. This report now outlines specific actions which could be taken to achieve that.

The report and summary can be downloaded here: http://www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk/news/scottish-government-urged-to-curb-alcohol-marketing/

This article was originally published in The SCPN Newsletter Volume 8, Issue 2. Read the digital newsletter below using Issuu, or feel free to download the PDF.