An end to the Carlsberg baby in sight?

Alcohol branding on children’s replica shirts is to be phased out under new marketing rules agreed by the drinks industry. The move, announced by the Portman Group, will be seen as a gesture by themulti-billion-pound drinks industry to head off more draconian government action amid growing concern about levels of alcohol consumption and harm among the young, including children.

The Portman Group announced the new initiative just ahead of the publication of the Government’s revised alcohol strategy which will require pubs, supermarkets and offlicences to display alcohol health warnings at the bar or tills, as well as labels on drinks bottles and cans.

The decision by the Portman Group follows a public consultation on its Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks which applies to all alcohol marketing. Industry insiders are reported as believing the ban could effectively end the long history of drink companies sponsoring football teams.

Nine county cricket clubs, two Premiership football teams, three Scottish Premier League clubs and a number of rugby clubs are currently sponsored by drinks companies.

David Poley, Chief Executive of the Portman Group, the industry’s ‘social responsibility’ organisation, said: “There is no evidence to link this marketing with under-age drinking. Even so, drinks companies are concerned about the negative perception caused by their logos appearing on children's shirts.

“Despite producers having only ever been interested in marketing their drinks to adults, some critics see children in replica kit as walking billboards for alcohol. This side effect of sponsorship is set to end. Drinks companies are taking the lead even though this decision may lessen their commercial appeal as sponsors if clubs sell fewer shirts.”

The alcohol industry insists it is not targeting children but critics claim the firms are using sophisticated techniques – including football sponsorship – to target the young. France has barred all televised sports sponsorship by alcohol companies, and medical experts are pushing for similar rules in Britain.

Professor Ian Gilmour, a liver specialist and president of the Royal College of Physicians who led calls for the ban, said: “I welcome the announcement and hope it’s a move towards the complete withdrawal of the alcohol industry from sports events. Every statistic that comes out shows an increasingly concerning situation surrounding alcohol use by the young.”

However, the new restriction will only apply to sponsorship contracts signed after 1 January 2008, which means that Carlsberg, which sponsors Liverpool, and is thought to have agreed a new three year deal just prior to the Portman Group announcement, will therefore evade the restriction initially. The deal is said to be worth more than £20m. A spokeswoman for the Danish brewer said it supported the new Portman Group code but the firm was confident its new sponsorship deal would not be affected.

Among the teams sponsored by alcohol producers are Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Surrey, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire cricket clubs, and Everton,Liverpool, Celtic, Hibernian and Rangers Football Clubs. A children's size shirt is defined by its VAT classification.

The rule change is included in the 4th Edition of the Portman Group's Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks. The full version of the new Code was published in June 2007.

NUT attacks alcohol sports sponsorship
An example of the kind of pressure and negative publicity that drinks companies have begun to suffer in relation to sports sponsorship was provided by the demand of National Union of Teachers’ General Secretary Steve Sinnott to end the practice. He was speaking at the Union’s annual meeting in Harrogate.

Referring to the ‘massive assault of the drinks industry’ on sport through advertising and sponsorship, Mr Siinnott warned beer firms which sponsor football “are exposing impressionable children to highly damaging messages.”Mr Sinnott said:

“This exposure to alcohol is damaging young people's lives and their futures. We are failing our youngsters. The sponsorship of sport by the drinks industry must end in advance of the Olympics in 2012.”

Mr Sinnott told delegates at the conference that 20 per cent of pupils who are excluded from school are thrown out for drinking alcohol, while 16 per cent drink alcohol every day. He also said drink-related deaths among young people were up 60 per cent since 1991.

To illustrate his point he said if a young Everton fan went to a Carling Cup match against Liverpool he would see the Carlsberg motif on the opposing team's strip and “on the chest of his heroes” he would see the logo of the Thai beer, Chang.

“He sees the scorer of Everton's winning goal presented with the man of the match award – a bottle of champagne. The effects on the young are stark,” he added