Preventing Alcohol-related Harm in Australia - Department of Health

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everages as a cause of or contributing tothe achievement of personal, business, social,sporting, sexual or other success’ (ABAC 2008,Clause C (i)).[85]The ABAC Scheme is funded and administeredentirely by the alcohol industry. Commonwealthand state and territory governments are involvedthrough one government representative on theABAC Management Committee.Despite the ABAC Scheme’s rules, whichdiscourage advertising that has ‘strong orevident appeal to children or adolescents’,research shows that a substantial amount ofalcohol advertising is communicated to youngpeople. For example, several advertisements foralcoholic beverages screened on television inmetropolitan Melbourne were found to be morelikely to reach 13- to 17-year-olds than adults(see Table 9).Table 9: Advertising on metro Melbournetelevision, year to March 2005said or shown. It is estimated that only 3% of thetotal adult population are aware of the existingABAC scheme and know what it relates to.[87]Among the 30% of people who reported beingconcerned about any alcohol advertising,only 2% had made a formal complaint. Someof the reasons why those who were concerneddid not make a complaint included the beliefthat it would not achieve anything (30%), nothaving time (25%) and not knowing who/how/where to complain (15%). ABAC currently hasno powers to sanction advertisers who breachthe code rules; however, a Senate Committeeinquiry currently under way is consideringproposed federal legislation that wouldintroduce sanctions on advertisers who breachthe code, which would be determined by anindependent adjudicating panel.[88]In 2003, the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategyconsidered a report on the effectiveness ofthe ABAC Scheme that identified the followingissues of concern:ProductHeinekenLagerCougarBourbonArchersSpriSchnappsBundabergRum Dry &Lime MixOrlandoJacobsCreekSparklingRoseTotalannualspendSource: King, Taylor and Carroll (2005)[86]Frequencyof adsRelativeexposure(of 13–17-years-oldsVs 18–29-year-olds)$ 94,000 110 1.12$ 45,000 103 1.04$ 57,000 110 1.04$ 36,000 88 1.06$ 89,000 34 1.11As a self-regulatory scheme, ABAC’seffectiveness largely depends on theindependence of its complaints body withthe powers to sanction.[43] Recent researchhas revealed that less than three in 10 (28%)people surveyed reported an awarenessof restrictions or regulations covering theadvertising of alcohol, in terms of what can bennnnnThe current system does not address publichealth concerns about alcohol advertisingand use. In particular, most complaintsabout alcohol advertising are dealt withunder the general advertising complaintsresolution system rather than the alcoholspecificsystem.The high dismissal rate for complaints aboutalcohol advertisements heard by the ASBdoes not engender community confidencein the complaint system and maydiscourage people from making complaintsabout alcohol advertisements.The general public is largely unaware ofthe complaint resolution system and, inparticular, how to make complaints.The system lacks transparency. In particular,there is insufficient reporting of theoutcomes of complaints.The current system does not apply to allforms of advertising; for example, packaging,electronic advertising, sponsorships, point ofsale advertising and promotions.34
nThe effectiveness of the current systemis compromised by the amount of timetaken to resolve complaints (MCDS 2003,unpublished).While some of these concerns have beenaddressed, pressure remains to move to a moretightly regulated advertising environment withstrict government controls. The WHO recentlyrecommended that governments be supported:nnnto effectively regulate the marketing ofalcoholic beverages, including effectiveregulation or banning of advertising and ofsponsorship of cultural and sports events,in particular those that have an impact onyounger peopleto designate statutory agencies to beresponsible for monitoring and enforcementof marketing regulationsto work together to explore establishing amechanism to regulate the marketing ofalcoholic beverages, including effectiveregulation or banning of advertising andsponsorship, at the global level.One of the most formidable obstacles toeffective education and persuasion strategiesregarding alcohol (which are discussed in thenext section below) is product advertising by thealcohol industry that intentionally promotes prodrinkingmessages to the general population,much of which also reaches young people. Inresponse, the governments of some countrieshave sponsored counter-advertising programs.[13] These might include public servicesannouncements, or warning messages withinactual product advertisements. However,studies suggest that counter-advertising usuallyhas only limited effectiveness, often becauseit is communicated at low frequencies and inpoorer quality productions compared to alcoholbeverage advertising.[13] In contrast, counteradvertising in the tobacco field is of proveneffectiveness, primarily because in that contexthard-hitting messages were possible (essentiallythat the tobacco industry was not in businessfor the consumer’s good). Counter advertisingmay be a more politically realistic option thanbanning advertising altogether, and shouldbe strongly supported from a public healthperspective, but it is important that its messagenot be compromised. Although rare, there areexamples of well-planned and implementedcounter-advertising programs that have hadsome success, particularly in building support forpublic health-oriented alcohol controls,[13] andthere is very strong evidence from other publichealth areas such as tobacco about the valueof such approaches.4.8 Education and persuasionInternational reviews of education andpersuasion strategies suggest that even withadequate resources, such approaches havelimited potential for success on their own.[13]Part of the reason for this is the counter effectof powerful forces that underpin unsafe andunhealthy drinking cultures, such as the price,availability and promotion of alcohol products.Recent Australian research for the developmentof a national alcohol social marketing initiativereports that ‘the challenge for communicationis that intoxication is closely linked to alcoholper se. When we simply asked participantsabout their earliest memories in relation toalcohol there was an overwhelming tendencyto leap to their first drunk experience. Further,these experiences were recalled with a senseof pride and nostalgia, even though the storiesinevitably involved some embarrassment.’[89]A key element to the success of socialmarketing in the public health area is effectiveintegration with and reinforcement by othercomplementary strategies.[7] For instance,the success of social marketing in promotingquitting smoking and road safety, includinganti-drink-driving campaigns, is indicative thateducation and persuasion strategies can beeffective when coupled with other measuressuch as support services, changes to theenvironment, regulation and enforcement.Throughout the world, alcohol education inschools is an enormously popular approach toaddressing the issue of harmful consumption ofalcohol among young people. The traditionalalcohol education programs that are based35
Page 1: Preventative Health TaskforceNation
Page 4 and 5: Contents1 Introduction: changing th
Page 6 and 7: 1. Introduction:changing thedrinkin
Page 8 and 9: ModifiableDeterminants:Cultural Pla
Page 10 and 11: 2. Key trends in alcoholconsumption
Page 12 and 13: Figure 3: Drinking at risky/high ri
Page 14 and 15: 2.4 Alcohol prices andconsumer spen
Page 16 and 17: More males than females died from b
Page 18 and 19: Families and childrenIt is a realit
Page 20 and 21: Young AustraliansRates of risky dri
Page 22 and 23: Table 5: Key to the rating scales s
Page 24 and 25: 4.2 Regulating the physicalavailabi
Page 26 and 27: The distinction is important becaus
Page 28 and 29: While increasing the price through
Page 30 and 31: These changes have resulted in majo
Page 32 and 33: 4.5 Treatment and early interventio
Page 35 and 36: number of RSA training programs hav
Page 37: Table 8: Alcohol advertising in Aus
Page 41 and 42: 5. Policy imperatives5.1 The state
Page 43 and 44: Table 10: Cost-effectiveness (avera
Page 45 and 46: There are some specific challenges
Page 47 and 48: thousands of Australians at the ear
Page 49 and 50: 21. Chikritzhs T, Catalano P, Stock
Page 51 and 52: 63. Gruenewald P, Freisthler B and

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