Doctors want ban on booze adverts

by Beaulieu | September 15, 2009 at 03:45 am

113 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Good for the doctors.

When I went to the Everton v Fulham football match at the weekend, it was unsurprising to see how much blatant booze advertising there was.

For one thing, the Everton players were advertising Chang beer and around the sidings, as if booze wasn't enough, there were online poker ads. Clearly it doesn't matter to the 'powers-that-be', as long as these companies stump up the dosh and it's legal, that's all that matters. Then Everton are even keen to employ banned drink drivers such as David Bentley. According to the brochure they handed out to fans, they want to make a fresh bid for him next year.

"There should be a total ban on alcohol advertising, including happy hours and sponsorship of music and sporting events, doctors' leaders have said.

A tough package of measures is needed to "tackle the soaring cost of alcohol-related harm" in the UK, said a report from the British Medical Association (BMA). Young people are particularly affected by such advertising, which encourages them to binge-drink and stock up on cheap alcopops, it said.

The BMA also renewed its calls for a minimum price to be set per unit of alcohol, for alcohol to be taxed at a higher rate than inflation and for a ban on two-for-one offers. It follows a report last year from the union which said there should be a curb on the sale of cut-price alcohol, such as in supermarkets. The latest study - Under The Influence - said alcohol consumption in the UK has "increased rapidly" in recent years among all age groups. It blames advertising and heavy discounting, the availability of cheap alcohol and 24-hour licensing laws.

The report said: "The population is drinking in increasingly harmful ways and the result is a plethora of avoidable medical, psychological and social harm, damaged lives and early deaths".