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Advertising and sponsorship are not the only sources of beliefs and attitudes, but any programme which does not tackle their alluring promises is bound to fail.

The alcohol industry asks us to believe that these promote only brand loyalty, and do not affect consumption. If this were true , why would the industry oppose a collective ban? Moreover, much brand identification has entered youth culture, convincing them that more alcohol equals more fun, sexual success, social acceptance and being grown-up.(See example in McCreanor’s paper below) Newer marketing techniques are very sophisticated e.g. internet / e-mail / texting, are designed to be “beneath the parental radar”. Young people tell researchers that the advertising, T-shirts’ promotions and prizes “keep reminding us of our last good boozeup.”

There is no doubt that the code against combining sexuality with alcohol advising is commonly broken. Visit <www.tui.co.nz> click on “Tui albums,” then “Miss Tui 2006,” then “check out the gallery”, a competition shown on this front page. The Tui TV ads flagrantly disobey the code.

A cycling NZ coach said, (NZ Herald, 3/5/06), ”Heavy drinking is endemic to all sporting codes. It’s in a way an icon of sport.” The liquor industry supports only measures shown by research to be ineffective, such as education campaigns. These cannot work while $35M is spent annually here on advertising which persuades young people of the opposite, and more is spent on sponsorship and other promotions. Sponsorship is heavily associated with sports. Other businesses should be encouraged to take up sports sponsorship. The alcohol industry will survive without advertising or sponsorship.

Serious problems require decisive solutions.

The Government is right that we must address the basic problem of attitudes to drinking. Returning the purchase age to 20, limiting advertising to after 10 pm and an educational campaign don’t go far enough. This is because young people will always respond more to the irresponsible promises of social and sexual success made by alcohol advertising.

No-one wants to interfere with moderate pleasure, but alcohol harm is tragic for many drinkers. Worse, it involves all of us, as in road crashes, domestic and street violence, suicide, home invasion, rape, and filling up hospital beds. The damage is greater than that of tobacco, and all people deserve at least as much protection.



A ban on advertising, and gradually on sponsorship, (as in France, Norway and Sweden), may also be only part of the answer.   But what it would do is stop the conflicting messages. and mean that we have done everything possible to create a safer community. It would demonstrate to young and old that alcohol use (although enjoyable, like the use of a motor vehicle) can be a very serious matter.

We must stop both advertising and sponsorship by the alcohol industry. If we do not, we are not serious about changing youth alcohol culture.


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An Interview With A Young Maori Man.

McCreanor T, Massey University Social Health Outcomes Research Evaluation, Auckland

“Mike: . . . those ads . . . you can view yourself as one of those blokes . . . like those DB Draught [beer], I mean DB Draught tastes like crap but um the ads are really good you know? The working man, you know the good honest kiwi bloke, the Speights [beer] ad, you know like, that was a classic ad . . . and even, yeah a lot of like Steinlager ads like yeah they’re just really powerful . . . their message is like, it’s not only the beer but like the Steinlager man . . . it’s like be the man, you can or something . . . and one of them’s motto is ‘’know who you are’’ and they’re just really powerful messages. It’s really good marketing.
(Male, 17 years)”


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“Several important insights are available from this young man’s analysis of contemporary beer advertisements on television in this country. Overall he is a discerning consumer of the marketing …. making distinction between the pitch and product, and passing judgment on campaigns with accolades like ‘’classic’’, ‘’really good’’ and ‘’powerful’’ .....

The brand is positioned in a mentoring, almost parental role in the development of Mike’s identity and it is this relationship that fuels the warmth of his final statements, which can be read as an appreciation of the sage advice more than an ironic dismissal of the sophistication of the marketing.”
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