Alcohol Action Ireland press release, Monday, 16 February 2026
With the nation once again subject to saturation alcohol marketing during the daytime television coverage of Saturday’s Six Nations rugby match against Italy, Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate to reduce alcohol harm, has published a new report into the impact that alcohol advertising around sports events has on youth drinking in Ireland, which has surged over the last decade.
The report, ‘Drinking it in: How alcohol sports advertising influences child and youth consumption behaviour’, lays out much of the national and international research on the marketing of alcohol to children and young people through sport and demonstrates how alcohol companies are using sport sponsorships – including the use of 0.0 alcohol products – to bypass advertising laws and normalise alcohol to children.
AAI CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said: “Alcohol is not a staple; it is not a necessary purchase. A market must be created for it and new drinkers must be recruited to sustain and expand that market. Young people are an important target audience for the alcohol industry and sport is particularly attractive because 7 out of 10 of the top programmes watched by children are sporting events.
“Let’s call alcohol sports sponsorship what it really is – advertising and nothing less. If the branding reaches children, it’s advertising, regardless of what label the industry puts on it.
“Alcohol sports sponsorship normalises and glamourises alcohol consumption among young people by linking alcohol with a sport they love and with players they look up to as role models. Alcohol marketing to children is known to be a key driver of both initiating alcohol use by children and increasing use if they have already started drinking. 50,000 children in Ireland start to drink every year, two thirds of 15-16 year olds have consumed alcohol in their lifetime, while the most recent National Drug and Alcohol Survey found that 38% of all drinkers aged 15–24 were classified as having an alcohol use disorder (AUD). The same survey also found that 8% were considered to have possible alcohol dependence – that’s more than 43,000 young people.
“Just as we learned from tobacco, and are now learning from gambling, alcohol marketing through sport is not accidental or benign – it is designed to normalise a harmful product and recruit young consumers. When industries sell harmful products, such as the tobacco industry did previously, and gambling and alcohol companies do now, they don’t talk about harm – they talk about fun, identity, and lifestyle. Sport is the perfect vehicle for that.
“Alcohol companies use sports sponsorship not just to sell alcohol – and we know that sales soar during matches – but to maintain high visibility even in jurisdictions with advertising restrictions such as Ireland, as they continuously come up with novel ways to circumvent legislation and sidestep the efforts of policy makers. This is particularly evident with the advertising of 0.0 products that use identical branding as their full-strength equivalents in places that are off-limits to alcohol marketing, such as on the field of play. Zero-alcohol marketing in sport isn’t about reducing harm, it’s about getting around the law while keeping alcohol brands in front of children.
“To further protect children from the direct or indirect promotion of alcohol products, the Public Health (Alcohol) Act (PHAA) also legislated for a daytime broadcasting ban on alcohol advertising with no advertisements for alcohol products on television from 3am to 9pm. Yet during the daytime live coverage of the Ireland v Italy match we saw alcohol marketing being broadcast into the homes of hundreds of thousands of people, doubtless tens of thousands of the viewers were children. The advertising was a seamless blend between Guinness and Guinness 0.0 using identical branding across ads on hoardings and ads on the field of play.
“While some people might argue that broadcasters aren’t responsible for the ads on hoardings, the reality is that companies only go to the expense of getting those ads placed on hoardings because they know their brands will be seen on TVs across the country. Research from Stirling University of a number of high-profile rugby matches found alcohol brand references occurring at a rate of up to one every eight seconds, which clearly shows children are being exposed to a high level of alcohol marketing during these matches in the pre-watershed time. It’s not that difficult – if a match is going to be broadcast pre-watershed in Ireland, then there should be no alcohol ad placements allowed on hoardings or anywhere else in the stadium.
“It is within this context that we must view the 12% increase in youth drinking in Ireland over the past decade and we now have a situation where young drinkers, 15–24-year-olds, make up the largest proportion of the population consuming alcohol – 78% – significantly higher than the national average (71%). Governments regulate marketing precisely because children cannot critically assess commercial persuasion. Parents cannot regulate stadiums, broadcasts, kits, or digital sponsorship – you can’t parent your way out of a multi-million-euro marketing strategy. “
While highlighting the significant levels of alcohol marketing young people in Ireland are exposed to through sport, the report also underscores the need for more comprehensive regulatory frameworks that address indirect marketing strategies and prioritise youth protection in sport sponsorship.
Dr Gilheany continued: “When evidence shows children are being harmed, inaction is not an acceptable policy choice. The solution is clear: close the loopholes, enforce existing laws, and remove alcohol sponsorship from sport. Stronger alcohol regulation, including a ban on sports sponsorship, is not radical; it is responsible government. The World Health Organisation states that interventions on affordability, advertising, and availability are the most effective public policy measures that governments can take to offset at least some of the harm caused by alcohol. In Ireland, the PHAA includes some modest controls on advertising to protect children from exposure to alcohol marketing.
“However, as we have seen, these protections are being circumvented. The lacuna in the law which allows the advertising of zero-alcohol products using identical branding to their full-strength equivalents must be closed. Government must also implement the other parts of the legislation that are still not enacted, with important measures such as controls on the content of alcohol advertisements not yet introduced.
“In addition, there is a clear need for a coherent approach to alcohol marketing to children and teenagers, including a clearly defined goal to protect children and young people offline and online because children experience marketing everywhere, online and offline. Policy needs to reflect that reality.
“This includes protecting children at, and watching, sport through a complete ban on sports sponsorship by alcohol companies. This policy objective was originally proposed in the Steering Group Report on a National Substance Misuse Strategy which laid the foundations for the PHAA. Due to intense lobbying, a ban on sports sponsorship was dropped – the only recommendation of the steering group not to make it into the 2018 legislation. That mistake must be rectified.
“If we believe sport is for participation, health and youth development, then alcohol sponsorship has no place on the pitch, the jersey, or the screen.”
Olympic silver medallist and recovery advocate Kenneth Egan said: “Alcohol branding is everywhere in sport – on jerseys, around and on the pitch, in the stands and in the titles of tournaments. Young people don’t separate the logo from the hero. If the winning moment is wrapped in alcohol branding, it sends a powerful message: this is part of success, belonging and adulthood.
“When children and teenagers are repeatedly exposed to alcohol through the sports they love, it doesn’t just build brand recognition, it builds expectation. It shapes attitudes early, lowers perceived harm, and links alcohol with achievement, teamwork and identity. That influence is subtle but it is real and brings with it a multitude of harms that can last a lifetime.”
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NOTES
Full report is available here
