The unacceptable face of alcohol promotion

Title – The unacceptable face of alcohol promotion
Source – The Times
Date – 28th September 2009

The Portman Group is the ‘drinks sector’s’ industry body which set the standards for alcohol marketing, labelling, packaging, promotion and branded merchandising.

The code of conduct they have created should be adopted not only by drinks manufacturers, but by the Licensed Retail Sector as a whole; this includes bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels, licensed cafes, off-licences, shops, supermarkets, the events industry and any outlet where alcohol is available for purchase.

The fact is that the sector is going to come under sustained fire in a run up to the general election early next year and Gordon Brown has already indicated that further regulation will be among the key election pledges; we all know this really means it will be one of the areas where unrealistic pledges will be made…

There are two ways that the arguments are going to be settled, the first is that the sector is going to ‘police’ itself and rigorously enforce sensible guidelines or government (Conservative or Labour) will enforce their own guidelines through further restrictive legislation. The time has passed for complaining about current legislation and for everyone in the industry to be proactive in their approach to their own businesses and put their own house in order.

During our courses we continuously emphasise that licensed premises need to realise that Responsible Alcohol Retailing is the long term strategy to a successful business model and we emphasise that your business will be much easier to manage if you are ‘seen as part of the solution, rather than part of the problem’. The only way to achieve this is to be proactive in regard to industry guidelines and industry standards such as those presented in this full page advertisement by the Portman Group in the Times earlier this week.

The Portman Group’s Code of Practice:

· The alcoholic nature of a drink must be absolutely clear.
· Alcoholic strength must not be dominant.
· No association can be made with illicit drugs, bravado, aggression or antisocial behaviour.
· No suggestion can be made that drinking can make you more popular or sexually successful.
· Consumers must not be encouraged to drink rapidly or ‘down in one’.
· There must be no encouragement of illegal or immoderate consumption, binge-drinking, drunkenness or drink-driving.
· Marketing must not have a particular appeal to under-18’s, or use images of people drinking who are, or look, under 25 years old.
· There must be no suggestion that drink can enhance mental or physical capabilities.

For more information on the Portman Group and their codes of practice please visit www.portmangroup.org.uk.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.