Michael Thorn

 

The runs are coming thick and fast in the current Victoria Bitter One Day International Series between Australia and India, bested only by the onslaught of alcohol advertising both on and off the pitch as well as in the commercial breaks in between the on field action.

That barrage of alcohol ads on the telly are the result of an egregious loophole in Australia’s legislation that allows for alcohol advertising to be broadcast on television before 8:30pm during sporting broadcasts on weekends and public holidays.

So while the Australian cricket team deservedly basks in the glow of its 4-0 series lead with only the fifth and final game of the series to be played; Cricket Australia and the alcohol companies that advertise during sporting events deserve only our disdain.

Of course we know why the alcohol industry does it.

Alcohol companies know only too well that the earlier children are exposed to alcohol branding, the more likely they are to commence drinking earlier and the more likely they are to drink to excess.

And make no mistake. The Australian alcohol industry is absolutely dependent on not simply recruiting new drinkers but ensuring that its customers drink at levels harmful to their health.

A new video produced by my organisation, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), earlier this week exposed the Australian alcohol industry’s heavy reliance on risky drinkers, with over 3.8 million Aussies averaging more than four standard drinks of alcohol a day, twice the recommended health guidelines.

Targeted by the alcohol industry and branded as ‘super consumers’, the industry’s best customers represent just 20 per cent of Australians aged 14 and above, yet they account for a staggering 74.2 per cent all the alcohol consumed as a nation each year.

This is the alcohol industry’s dirty little secret. It’s an industry built on identifying, targeting and exploiting its best customers, and ensuring that they continue to misuse and abuse alcohol.

So much so, that if the industry’s best customers were to drink within the guidelines, the total alcohol consumed as a nation would be reduced by a staggering 39 per cent or more than 38 million litres of pure alcohol.

Unfortunately, we will all grow old waiting for the alcohol industry to ever agree to effective measures that would save lives and reduce harm, and to willingly stop exploiting these opportunities to link alcohol products with sport.

It is government that must accept the ultimate responsibility to ensure that vested interests do not trump the health and welfare of our children, our families and our communities.

The price we pay as a society is already too high; a heavy burden that extends beyond the 5,500 deaths and the 157,000 hospitalisations every year.

It’s been almost ten months since Australia’s one-day cricket team won the 2015 ICC World Cup. Thanks to a series of unfortunate and embarrassing post-game interviews by Channel Nine’s Shane Warne and members of the cricket team, it was not the sporting victory that held the nation’s attention in the days to follow, but rather the communities building disappointment and outrage that alcohol and a culture of drinking to excess had literally drowned out and overwhelmed the sporting achievement.

I said then that I hoped the strong reaction would make clear to sports administrators and those responsible in government that it was time for action.

To date those calls have fallen on deaf ears.

Today Cricket Australia still worships at the feet of Big Alcohol. Still accepts millions of dollars for the honour of a logo on a shirt and the naming rights to its contests. Still works hand-in-cricket glove with the alcohol industry with the knowledge that by doing so Cricket Australia is complicit in recruiting the risky drinkers so crucial to the alcohol industry’s bottom line and normalising the alcohol-drenched culture.

Far from strengthening its code during its recent review, Free TV Australia failed to remove the sports loophole and relaxed its code even further.

And while we can take comfort in changing community attitudes that recognise it is not acceptable that our children be exposed to a sporting code inextricably linked to big alcohol and a culture of risky drinking, it seems that Free TV Australia, Cricket Australia and our governments remain two steps behind and alarmingly out of touch.

Michael Thorn is Chief Executive of the Foundation for Alcohol and Education Research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repost from 24/09/2015

Premier Mike Baird’s public comments at last week’s Thomas Kelly Foundation event in Sydney wasn’t the first time he has questioned the extent of alcohol advertising in this country, particularly its strong association with big sport.

Baird made the self-evident point that such alcohol advertising has become omni-present and spoke about the need to reduce its presence.

“I find it quite an incredible position where the captain of our cricket team sits there with a big VB on the middle [of his chest],” Mr Baird said.

It would be a fair bet that there were more than few alcohol industry, advertising and sporting corporate types on the phone to the Premier’s office the next morning to set him straight.

Indeed, Australian Cricket Captain Steve Smith was sent out to face the media and, attempting to play a dead bat, suggested that “we’re promoting the brand, not the consumption of alcohol”.

Which would be all well and good if the two were not so inextricably linked.

I dearly hope Mike Baird continues to be engaged in this issue because his leadership will be important for an issue most Australian’s want changed.

The problem with alcohol advertising is threefold.

First, child and adolescent exposure to alcohol advertising is associated with earlier initiation of drinking and greater consumption among existing drinkers.

Second, alcohol advertising targets children. The industry does this because unless new drinkers are recruited they are out of business.

Third, and most importantly, alcohol advertising confirms and reinforces the cultural norm about alcohol’s place in our society and overwhelms health and medical efforts to change this.

It also fosters unhealthy politico-corporate behaviour. Time and again political leaders are either captured by these vested interests or too weak to resist their overtures. History is littered with examples of these private corporate interests being placed ahead of the public interest.

These interests have enormous power, which they aren’t afraid to use. It takes a special kind of political leader to stand up to these corporate bullies.

But the research evidence about the pervasiveness of alcohol advertising is clear. It is considerable in its breadth and it volume; and big sport, advertisers and the media barons are completely attached to the steady financial drip.

New research from Monash University’s Professor Kerry O’Brien shows that Australian children and adolescents receive millions of exposures to alcohol advertising when watching AFL, NRL, and Cricket on television. It found that a cumulative audience of 26.9 million Australian children and adolescents watching these sports are exposed to 51 million instances of alcohol advertising, with nearly half (47%) of these broadcast during daytime programming between 6am and 8.30pm.

This latest research once again demonstrates that existing alcohol advertising regulations are not protecting Australian children from exposure to unhealthy advertising during prominent televised sports.

As NRL and AFL footy finals move towards their denouement, the egregious loophole that allows alcohol advertising to be broadcast during live sporting broadcasts in the daytime, on weekends and public holidays continues to expose millions of Australian children and adolescents to high levels of alcohol advertising.

Premier Baird’s comments, timely as they are, come as FreeTV Australia seeks approval to relax restrictions that will allow for even more alcohol advertising on TV, a move that would be a backward and an enormously damaging step.

The current self-regulatory alcohol advertising codes have not only failed to protect children and adolescents from exposure to alcohol messages. They have failed miserably to keep up with the rapidly shifting traditional and digital landscape and protect consumers of all ages from inappropriate advertising.

Ideally, alcohol advertising should be banned from broadcast and online media, alcohol sponsorship of sport and cultural events should cease (using a replacement advertising scheme funded by a levy on alcohol sales), and health and safety counter-advertising should accompany print and outdoor advertising.

In the meantime, the Commonwealth Government needs to establish an independent review of Australia’s broadcast and digital alcohol advertising guidelines. Such a government-instigated review could cut through the complexity, identify and resolve current failings and recommend the introduction of an effective alcohol advertising regulatory regime.

Perhaps this is something Premier Baird could take up new Prime Minister Turnbull, whom I know has also expressed concern about the pervasiveness of alcohol advertising.

The review could deal with the inconsistent approaches to alcohol advertising without having to lower the bar further on an already broken system. We must tighten the alcohol advertising guidelines and lift the advertising standards across all media including commercial television, Pay TV and online platforms.

Meanwhile, Mike Baird continues to lead the way when it comes to speaking up about issues that damage and destroy too many lives.

Michael Thorn is CEO of Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.