Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Tuesday February 4, 2025
Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) watched with exasperation at the amount of Guinness branding inside the Aviva stadium during Ireland’s Six Nations clash with England, exposing thousands of children to alcohol marketing which is known to be a key driver of both initiating alcohol use by children and increasing use. It is also in contravention of both the spirit and the letter of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. Only last month the broadcast watershed for alcohol advertisements finally came into operation meaning that alcohol ads cannot be broadcast before 9pm. Yet highly visible alcohol ads on hoardings were being broadcast on Virgin Media in the early evening while RTE broadcast similar adverts during coverage of other rugby matches across the championship. This follows on from similar breaches with Heineken hoarding ads being shown during coverage of the Champions League.
In addition, Diageo is continuing to use the cynical tactic of brand-sharing – advertising zero alcohol products using the same branding as their full-strength alternatives – to circumvent the law banning alcohol brands on the field of play. Studies by the University of Stirling have found that alcohol brand references on the field of play occur at a rate of up to 1 every 8 seconds during high-profile rugby matches. Data from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has shown that 7 out of 10 of the top programmes watched by children are big sporting events and studies have shown that children as young as 3 display brand awareness. In other words, children are being exposed to saturation levels of alcohol branding via sport.
Research has shown there is a positive association between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and increased alcohol consumption amongst schoolchildren. Given that at least 50,000 children in Ireland start to drink every year and that 37% of 15-24 year olds who drink have an alcohol use disorder, AAI finds it hard to understand why even the modest measures within the Public Health (Alcohol) Act are not being upheld, especially when Diageo states, “we are using sport to lift our brands, partnering with iconic sporting occasions giving us incomparable visibility across the globe” and Carlsberg has stated that “ultimately, sponsorships are about growing our business and driving the long-term sales of our beer brands”.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Pairing a healthy activity, such as sport, with an unhealthy product, such as alcohol, makes that product seem less unhealthy and more acceptable and normal. It creates a culture where children and young people perceive alcohol consumption as a normal everyday part of life and see it as something associated with having fun and sporting success. It is entirely contradictory that a society with the eighth highest level of binge drinking across OECD countries and where four people die every day from an alcohol-related illness is supine with regard to this aspect of alcohol promotion.”
With the cost of harms from alcohol almost double the cost of harms from tobacco, AAI regularly calls for a complete ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport, just as we have seen with tobacco. This is a view that is agreed with by medical and public health experts in Ireland and globally. It is clear that the current piecemeal approach to regulating alcohol marketing in Ireland is not enough. A ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport would decelerate the relentless promotion of alcohol in Ireland and diminish the overall potency of alcohol advertising, thereby reducing alcohol consumption.
Dr Gilheany continued: “Alcohol sponsorship of sport is a way of building emotional connections with consumers and its power comes from associating the brand with an already engaging event or celebrity. It is a sophisticated influence on young people’s drinking behaviour and expectations, increasing the likelihood that they will start to use alcohol at an earlier age and to drink more if they are already using alcohol.
“The Health Research Board reports that alcohol is responsible for one in every four deaths among young men aged 15 to 39, making it the leading risk factor for death for young men, and yet we continue to allow sports in Ireland to be a primary vehicle for the alcohol industry to target them. A ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports would help reduce alcohol-related harm, particularly among future generations, and have a hugely positive impact on the health, wellbeing and safety not just of young people but of the general population.”
The Programme for Government made a commitment to ‘tackle harmful alcohol consumption through effective regulations’. At the very least there must be enforcement of current regulations but in reality there is a need for a complete rethink of government policy in relation to alcohol which puts the protection of children ahead of the profits of global alcohol producers.
ENDS
AAI’s media language guide can be accessed here
