Young people

Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to alcohol harm and alcohol marketing. Alcohol Focus Scotland works with children and young people to ensure that youth voices are heard in alcohol policy formation in Scotland and internationally. 

Some examples of our recent work with children and young people include:

Confronting Alcohol in Digital Youth Spaces

In 2023, AFS worked with the World Health Organisation and nearly 70 young people across Scotland on a project exploring alcohol digital marketing and its impact on young people.

Young people told us they see alcohol adverts everywhere they go online, and this can have an influence on how they perceive alcohol.  We also identified that covert tactics were being used to integrate digital alcohol-related content seamlessly into everyday life, making it challenging for young people to distinguish between advertising and genuine content.

Work on this project is still ongoing. Please get in touch with us at involvement@alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk if you or your youth group would like to get involved!

Advocating Against Harmful Alcohol Marketing  

Our involvement team worked closely with over 150 people in recovery and over 200 children and young people on alcohol marketing. The below animations were created to represent their views ahead of a Scottish Government consultation on alcohol marketing restrictions in 2023. The animations were also shown in South Africa during the 2023 Global Alcohol Policy Conference.