Alcohol-Free Childhood Campaign

Alcohol Focus Scotland has joined forces with BMA Scotland, Children in Scotland, Scottish Families affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD) and Scottish Health Action on Alcohol (SHAAP) in a mission to end the harmful impacts of alcohol marketing on children and young people in Scotland.

The Alcohol-Free Childhood campaign is supported by around 50 organisations and 80 MSPs across all parties, including First Minister John Swinney MSP. 

Alcohol marketing leads children and young people to start drinking earlier, to drink more, and to drink at problematic levels. We need to do more to prevent this.

The Scottish Government consulted on alcohol advertising and promotion in 2023. In September 2024, it announced an evidence review by Public Health Scotland to inform a second consultation on more specific proposals. 

Your support will help highlight the importance of protecting our children from alcohol marketing, putting children’s right to health over industry profit.

Support our campaign

Please support our campaign to protect future generations of children and young people from the problems associated with alcohol marketing by signing up to our campaign statement:

“I believe that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood. All children should play, learn and socialise in places that are healthy and safe, protected from exposure to alcohol marketing”

Contact us to pledge your support

 

 

End Alcohol Marketing in Childhood

Alcohol brands are highly visible in our everyday lives. Whether it’s adverts on TV, cinema, billboards or online, in magazines and newspapers, at shops, pubs, or sponsorship of sporting and music events - there’s really no avoiding them

The alcohol industry spends billions of pounds every year on marketing their products. Young people are particularly susceptible to the influence of alcohol marketing, and due to weak advertising codes in Scotland and the UK, are regularly exposed to it.  

Alcohol marketing influences how children and young people think and feel about alcohol. It develops brand preferences and positive expectations around alcohol, creating and reinforcing social norms around drinking. A survey we carried out found 10 and 11 year olds were more familiar with certain beer brands than leading brands of biscuits, crisps and ice cream. 

This is concerning because there is strong evidence that exposure to alcohol marketing leads young people to drink at an earlier age, and to drink more. In fact, new research has confirmed that alcohol marketing causes underage drinking, using the same methodology as was used to show that tobacco causes cancer. 

Children and young people in Scotland have themselves recognised how highly visible and heavily marketed alcohol is and are calling for action. For example, the majority of the children and young people who shared their views in 2022-23 as part of Children in Scotland’s youth engagement project on alcohol marketing in Scotland generally supported restricting alcohol advertising. 

Primary school children in Scotland recognise that adverts can be harmful to children, and have called for the removal of alcohol adverts so that children can’t see them, and to stop alcohol sport sponsorship of events at which children are present.   

The Young Scot Health Panel of children and young people aged 14-25 years recommended mandatory controls on alcohol marketing, including restrictions on alcohol advertising on TV, in cinemas and in public places, and content requirements for adverts and packaging to reduce appeal to young people and warn them of the dangers of drinking.

AFS has worked with over 200 children and young people over the past few years, creating an animation to show how alcohol marketing is “In Your Face”: 

Find out more

• Children’s Parliament investigates: an alcohol free childhood
• Children in Scotland: Alcohol Marketing in Scotland - Youth Engagement Project  
• Young Scot: Preventing Harm - Alcohol Marketing and Young People
• Alcohol Marketing Expert Network: Realising Our Rights: How to protect people from alcohol marketing
• Guest blog from campaign supporter Diabetes Scotland on the importance of restricting alcohol marketing

 

Official Campaign Partners