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Alcoholic Drinks: Marketing

Question for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

UIN HL3153, tabled on 18 October 2021

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Institute of Alcohol Studies report Alcohol marketing during the 2020 Six Nations Championship: A frequency analysis, published in September, what plans they have to protect children and vulnerable populations from exposure to alcohol marketing (1) during sporting events, (2) on television and online, and (3) in public spaces.

Answered on

29 October 2021

The UK advertising industry has some of the strictest alcohol regulations in the world. The Advertising Standards Authority uses its codes of practice for advertising to stipulate that alcohol must not be directed at people under 18 or contain anything likely to appeal to them by reflecting youth culture.

Anybody cast for an advertisement for alcohol must be, and look, 25 years of age or over. Consumption of alcohol must not be linked to increased popularity, sexual success, confidence, sporting achievements or mental performance. Anything which portrays drinking alcohol as a competitive challenge or as having therapeutic qualities is banned, as is anything that promotes binge drinking or suggests that alcohol can solve one’s problems.

If new evidence emerges that clearly highlights major problems with the existing Codes, then the Advertising Standards Authority has a duty to revisit the Codes and take appropriate action.