European Commission funded study finds alcohol advertising controls fail to protect young people

Self-regulatory codes governing alcohol advertising in the countries of the European Union do not adequately protect young people. Many advertising messages retain their appeal to children and adolescents and advertisers attempt to push back the boundaries of what is allowed.

These are the main conclusions of the ‘ELSA’ study, a two year study of alcohol advertising and marketing in Europe carried out by STAP, a Dutch nongovernmental organisation concerned with alcohol issues. Based on its findings, STAP argues in its report to the Commission that advertising controls should be stricter and more uniform across the European Union. The study was funded by the European Commission.

The main findings of the study are:

• Exposure to alcohol advertising leads to higher consumption

• It appears from the study that young people are influenced by alcohol advertisements. An extensive overview of scientific studies found that the more young people were exposed to alcohol advertising, the more alcohol they drank in the long run. This effect was reinforced when an advertisement was experienced as attractive. Wim van Dalen, the director of STAP said: “The negative influence of alcohol advertisements on the drinking behaviour of young people has been shown sufficiently. This fact forces governments to take measures to put a restraint on alcohol advertisements”.

Varied alcohol controls in Europe
Currently there are 76 different regulations in the 24 European countries studied. A majority (49) of these regulations are implemented by law and a minority (27) of the rules have been established by the alcohol industry itself (selfregulation). There are laws and selfregulatory regulations on alcohol advertisements in almost every country. Most of the regulations implemented by law restrict the quantity of alcohol ads. Only the Netherlands has self-regulation, which is unique in Europe.

European recommendations do not adequately protect young people. The European Council Recommendations of 2001, regarding protection of children and adolescents from alcohol advertising and promotion, have not been implemented strongly enough in the member countries.Although youngsters feel highly attracted by alcohol advertisements, a reference to the element of humour is absent in the European Recommendations. In addition, the European Council Recommendations do not restrict the volume of alcohol advertisements or limit the broadcasting times of advertisements on TV.

Support for the effectiveness of self-regulation is lacking. The study finds no scientific support for the effectiveness of self-regulation. This is in contrast with the claims of the alcohol industry that self-regulation is the best and most successful means of regulating alcohol advertising. There is no objective information available to demonstrate the degree of adherence to national regulations. Few countries in Europe systematically monitor how well alcohol advertisements adhere to the national regulations.

Based on this research, STAP called for a greater role for legislative controls on advertising and for harmonisation of this legislation in Europe. The European Union should take a leading role, it said, in developing clear legislation to protect vulnerable groups such as young people. Systematic monitoring of compliance with the existing regulations was also of vital importance. Further information on the project and copies of the report can be found at www.stap.nl/elsa