A ban on drink ads will not solve our problems
Last week the British Medical Association
(BMA) called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising and
marketing, from television advertising to the sponsorship of music
festivals and football by drinks brands.
This ban, which is intended to help tackle drink-related problems
in Britain, would come at a cost of £800m for the media
industry.
If this were to happen, not only would already cash-strapped media
outlets see further reductions in their ad revenue, but we would
lose some of the most creative and memorable adverts of our time.
Think about it - without drinks advertising, we would never have
seen the iconic Guinness promotions that regularly top polls for
"best advert" and Melanie Sykes would never have invited
us to join her in enjoying a pint of Boddingtons. Both examples of
advertising at its best.
The Daily Telegraph recently ran a six-week supplement, The Friday,
which was made possible by its sponsorship from Gordon's Gin. I
enjoyed reading The Friday over the summer,
and often enjoyed a gin and tonic the following Saturday evening,
but miraculously I live to tell the tale.
Furthermore, an advert encouraging us to buy anything - which they
have a nasty habit of doing - would have negative health
implications, whether it's as direct as wolfing down a Big Mac
or the indirect fuel emissions from nipping to the supermarket for
something as wholesome as a bag of organic carrots.
This is obviously an extreme example, but then it is also a touch extreme to suggest that a nation's drink problems can be solved with a piece of ill-thought legislation.
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