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Germany: Conference on Alcohol advertising – impact and self-regulation (Berlin)
The Federal Drug Commissioner Mrs. Bätzing invited several experts from USA, New Zealand, France, the UK and Germany to discuss the impact of alcohol advertising on children and young people. Additionally to this issue the expert presentations were focussed on systems which monitor and regulate alcohol marketing with the intention to protect minors of the influence of such advertising. The participants of the conference were health and prevention experts, politicians, representatives of the alcohol and advertising industries as well as representatives from several NGOs. This conference was necessary because public discussions on bans of as well restrictions on alcohol advertising have shown that there is a lack of information about the impact and control of alcohol marketing in Germany. The presentations of Prof. Jernigan, Prof. Hastings and Dr. Anderson impressively showed that alcohol advertising influences children and young people in their attitudes towards alcoholic beverages. It also has an influence on their drinking behaviour. The German scientist Dr. Hanewinkel presented results of his studies, which showed that the use of alcohol in movies have an influence of the alcohol use of young viewers. Concerning the regulation of alcohol marketing in Europe, different systems exist, and these vary in their effectiveness. Mr. Bourton (Ofcom) showed the British version monitoring system of alcohol advertising, which apparently functions well. Mr. Breen, from the Irish government presented the co-regulation system which was implemented only a short time ago. The French representatives came to contradictory results. Indeed, Dr. Rigaud (ANPAA) emphasized the effectiveness of the Loi Evin. However, Mr. Teyssier (EASA) criticised the Loi Evin, explaining that the procedures are too complicated and thereby ineffective. Many of the European Public Health experts are convinced by the effectiveness of the French law. The presentation of Mr. van Dalen showed once again the need of an independent monitoring system and a stricter regulation system. Dr. de Coninck from the European Commission stressed the role of the alcohol advertising issue in the EU alcohol strategy. The Federal Drug Commissioner Mrs. Bätzing once again reiterated her position on the regulation on alcohol advertising during the conference. She pointed out that she is in favour of the recommendation to ban alcohol advertising before 8.00 pm on television. Moreover, she would like to modify the German self-regulation system by involving independent members, as she feels the current system is neither transparent, nor independent. Finally, the conference testified that public discussions on alcohol advertising restrictions are now well established in German health politics.
Presentations are available here: