21 min
Alcohol Alert - November 2021 Alcohol Alert Podcast
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- News Commentary
Hello and welcome to the Alcohol Alert, brought to you by The Institute of Alcohol Studies.
In this edition:
* ‘No Escape: How Alcohol Advertising Preys on Children and Vulnerable People’
* ‘Sobriety ankle tags’ rolled out after successful pilot
* Cross party group of MPs demands better approach to reduce alcohol harm
* Disagreement over alcohol duty reform
* Scottish LibDems and 28 NGOs call for minimum unit price to increase
* Diageo’s Christmas ‘responsibility’ campaign normalises excessive drinking
* No major economy covers the cost of harm from alcohol, tobacco and sugar
* Alcohol-fuelled incidents at Wales rugby matches spark criticism
We hope you enjoy our roundup of stories below: please feel free to share. Thank you.
Event: New IAS report on restricting underage alcohol purchases
Join us on Wednesday 8 December for the launch of our new report on ‘Preventing underage alcohol purchasing online using payment card details’. Register here.
With a growth in online purchasing, particularly since the pandemic, online age verification for buying alcohol is increasingly important. Currently most systems are poor, such as relying on honesty policies or uploading documents.
In a new IAS-commissioned report, Jessica Muirhead looks at how 'Merchant Category Codes' could be used for online alcohol purchases. Every time a payment is made on a bank card, a code is sent with payment details to identify the type of transaction. This is already used to prevent under-18s from gambling and would better protect retailers from illegally selling alcohol to under-18s.
This month’s IAS blogs
Link to blogs
Alcohol Toolkit Study: quarterly update
UCL’s quarterly alcohol data suggest that the number of increasing and higher risk drinkers has steadily increased since May 2021.
Prevalence of increasing and higher risk drinking (AUDIT)
Increasing and higher risk drinking defined as those scoring >7 AUDIT. A-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupation
Currently trying to restrict consumption
A-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupation; Question: Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses? Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses?
All past-year attempts to cut down or stop
Question: How many attempts to restrict your alcohol consumption have you made in the last 12 months (e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses)? Please include all attempts you have made in the last 12 months, whether or not they were successful, AND any attempt that you are currently making.
‘No Escape: How Alcohol Advertising Preys on Children and Vulnerable People’
On 30 November the Alcohol Health Alliance launched a new report that looks at alcohol marketing in the UK and calls for the Government to introduce restrictions to such marketing in order to protect children and vulnerable people.
Discussing the prevalence and ubiquity of alcohol marketing, the report shows that advertising is across an enormous range of sectors, using a range of mediums: at sporting events, festivals, TV entertainment, theatres, across outdoor media. They rebut the industry assertion that marketing is simply about brand switching and doesn’t increase and encourage consumption. The AHA argues that:
“The alcohol industry logically requires the continual recruitment of new generations of drinkers. Indeed, many brands see marketing as a key way to recruit new consumers and some specifically target the youngest demographics of legal drinkers.”
The report focuses on the danger of marketing to children and those in recovery. The AHA writes that it normalises alcohol and “creates a culture where alcohol is seen as an essential part of everyday life”. Respondents to the report’s survey said th
Hello and welcome to the Alcohol Alert, brought to you by The Institute of Alcohol Studies.
In this edition:
* ‘No Escape: How Alcohol Advertising Preys on Children and Vulnerable People’
* ‘Sobriety ankle tags’ rolled out after successful pilot
* Cross party group of MPs demands better approach to reduce alcohol harm
* Disagreement over alcohol duty reform
* Scottish LibDems and 28 NGOs call for minimum unit price to increase
* Diageo’s Christmas ‘responsibility’ campaign normalises excessive drinking
* No major economy covers the cost of harm from alcohol, tobacco and sugar
* Alcohol-fuelled incidents at Wales rugby matches spark criticism
We hope you enjoy our roundup of stories below: please feel free to share. Thank you.
Event: New IAS report on restricting underage alcohol purchases
Join us on Wednesday 8 December for the launch of our new report on ‘Preventing underage alcohol purchasing online using payment card details’. Register here.
With a growth in online purchasing, particularly since the pandemic, online age verification for buying alcohol is increasingly important. Currently most systems are poor, such as relying on honesty policies or uploading documents.
In a new IAS-commissioned report, Jessica Muirhead looks at how 'Merchant Category Codes' could be used for online alcohol purchases. Every time a payment is made on a bank card, a code is sent with payment details to identify the type of transaction. This is already used to prevent under-18s from gambling and would better protect retailers from illegally selling alcohol to under-18s.
This month’s IAS blogs
Link to blogs
Alcohol Toolkit Study: quarterly update
UCL’s quarterly alcohol data suggest that the number of increasing and higher risk drinkers has steadily increased since May 2021.
Prevalence of increasing and higher risk drinking (AUDIT)
Increasing and higher risk drinking defined as those scoring >7 AUDIT. A-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupation
Currently trying to restrict consumption
A-C1: Professional to clerical occupation C2-E: Manual occupation; Question: Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses? Are you currently trying to restrict your alcohol consumption e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses?
All past-year attempts to cut down or stop
Question: How many attempts to restrict your alcohol consumption have you made in the last 12 months (e.g. by drinking less, choosing lower strength alcohol or using smaller glasses)? Please include all attempts you have made in the last 12 months, whether or not they were successful, AND any attempt that you are currently making.
‘No Escape: How Alcohol Advertising Preys on Children and Vulnerable People’
On 30 November the Alcohol Health Alliance launched a new report that looks at alcohol marketing in the UK and calls for the Government to introduce restrictions to such marketing in order to protect children and vulnerable people.
Discussing the prevalence and ubiquity of alcohol marketing, the report shows that advertising is across an enormous range of sectors, using a range of mediums: at sporting events, festivals, TV entertainment, theatres, across outdoor media. They rebut the industry assertion that marketing is simply about brand switching and doesn’t increase and encourage consumption. The AHA argues that:
“The alcohol industry logically requires the continual recruitment of new generations of drinkers. Indeed, many brands see marketing as a key way to recruit new consumers and some specifically target the youngest demographics of legal drinkers.”
The report focuses on the danger of marketing to children and those in recovery. The AHA writes that it normalises alcohol and “creates a culture where alcohol is seen as an essential part of everyday life”. Respondents to the report’s survey said th
21 min