BMA Report Examines Impact of Alcohol Advertising on Young People

The British Medical Association (BMA) has issued a September 2009 report titled Under the Influence: The Damaging Effect of Alcohol Marketing on Young People, which aims “to identify effective ways of protecting young people from the influence of alcohol promotion and marketing.” Led by Institute for Social Marketing Director Gerald Hastings, the report purportedly “confirms that alcohol marketing is independently linked to the onset of drinking in young people and the amount they drink,” according to an accompanying article published in the September 12, 2009, edition of the British Medical Journal. The report also apparently criticizes regulators for allowing the UK alcohol industry, which allegedly spends approximately £800 million per year on advertising, to fund the public education program known as Drinkaware Trust. The BMA Science Board has urged UK policy makers to counter these “ineffective educational initiatives and partial solutions” by adopting several measures, including a comprehensive ban on all alcohol marketing and “any products that either appeal to young people more than adults, or are particularly associated with problematic drinking.”

Meanwhile, BMJ editor Fiona Godlee published a September 12 editorial on the report, predicting that “(as with tobacco) the UK and Europe will get a ban eventually” as “more people, at younger and younger ages, succumb to alcohol related liver disease.” In addition, she calls on Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to consider similar regulations. “[Frieden] built a reputation on bold action on smoking and unhealthy eating, always in the face of fierce industry opposition,” concludes Godlee.