British researchers are calling for urgent changes to Britain’s “flawed" regulatory system regarding alcohol advertising because children in the United Kingdom are exposed to more alcohol marketing than their adult counterparts, according to an editorial published in the British Journal of Medicine.
The editorial coincided with an analysis conducted by the RAND Corporation for the European Commission that found 10- to 15-year old children in the United Kingdom see 10% more alcohol advertising on TV than their parents do, and 50% more for the specific sector of “alcopops". The analysis also found young people are the heaviest alcohol users, and alcohol marketers are exploiting this opportunity.
The editorial was written by Professor Gerard Hastings, University of Stirling, and Nick Sheron, M.D., University of Southampton, who said the affecting harm on children is beyond dispute. Findings from 13 peer reviewed studies on the impact of alcohol marketing of young people, show it is clear, "alcohol marketing increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol and will drink more if they are already alcohol drinkers."
In October 2012, the beverage industry restated its voluntary commitment to restrict advertising to media that have a minimum 70% adult audience. The 70:30 split is based on the share of U.S. population above the legal drinking age of 21, but has been applied around the globe, with a ratio of 75:25 in the UK. However, only 21% of the U.K. population is under age 18, and of those, 5% are infants, so the guideline allocate these children as audience share of 25% even though they compromise only 16% of the population, thus showing children are more exposed than adults.
The RAND analysis concluded, the regulatory system alone does not explain the high percentage of children exposed to alcopops advertising—deliberate targeting is contributing. The danger is that "such neatly targeted campaigns will spill over into younger groups," also clear from the analysis, said Hastings and Sheron.
