News
- Five pitfalls to avoid in evaluating training
- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Cross-Party Group Improving Scotland's health: 2021 and beyond October 2018
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
- Reducing alcohol consumption can address health inequalities
- Alcohol-specific deaths remain at very high levels
- Oh Lila goes digital
- Global first alcohol policy set to save hundreds of Scots' lives
- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Walker's crisp ad exposes children to alcohol marketing
- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
- Focus on link between alcohol and obesity
- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
- Last Christmas for heavily discounted alcohol
- Scotland's licensing system needs clearer direction
- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Reflections on GAPC 2017
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
- UK children anxious about parents' drinking
- Quarter of Scots drink above guidelines
- Alcohol producers failing to inform public
- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
- Budget: No change in alcohol duty
- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Chancellor urged to tackle cheap, strong cider in Budget
- Online help for families affected by alcohol
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- Drink drive warning
- Scottish Greens call for action on alcohol marketing
- Scottish Government receives European alcohol award
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- Half of alcohol being sold under 50p per unit
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Alcohol and mental health are closely linked
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- Alcohol sold at pocket money prices
- Scotland has so much to gain from reducing how much we drink
- AFS welcomes revised alcohol consumption guidelines
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- Public health must prevail over big business
- New toolkit to help children affected by family alcohol problems
- Price check reveals cheap cost of strong alcohol
- Sales increase underlines need for minimum pricing
- Time to kick alcohol out of sport
- Alcohol linked with stomach cancer
- AFS calls for compulsory health warnings on alcoholic drinks
- Are supermarkets 'responsible retailers' when it comes to alcohol?
- Scottish health charities call for excise duty rise to tackle cheap alcohol
- Alcohol campaigners unite to call for stronger protection from alcohol advertising to children
- New resource for people concerned about alcohol in their community
- Minimum pricing decision delayed until summer
- No completely 'safe' level of drinking
- New alcohol guidelines published
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
- Alcohol fuels ambulance assaults
- 82% of Scots agree drink driving is unacceptable
- Scotland's alcohol strategy - what next?
- Scotland leads way in evidence-based alcohol policy
- New report reveals impact of alcohol on emergency services
- Alcohol: a global concern
Time to kick alcohol out of sport
The appeal of sports sponsorship to children and young people is obvious and long-lasting - nearly forty years on I can still remember how much I coveted the John Player Special Formula 1 matchbox car my friend Colin had.
Tobacco sports sponsorship was banned in 2005 and it would now be considered outrageous for high-profile teams like Celtic to be brand ambassadors for tobacco - so why is it acceptable for alcohol?
Major alcohol brands are prominent in almost every high profile sporting event today, from the Olympics to the Champions League, Ryder Cup, Formula One and Wimbledon.
The Celtic football team advertise Magners cider on their shirts, while the Scottish Football Association has a seven figure ‘official beer partner’ sponsorship deal with Tennent’s. Scottish Rugby has several alcohol deals which means the brands Guinness, Crabbies and Caledonia Best are all over Murrayfield.
Alcohol brands are highly visible in and around stadiums, with eye catching adverts on pitch-side hoardings and even rugby posts wrapped in the brand logo. Watching sport on TV, particularly football, it seems every second advert is for alcohol, and pubs and supermarkets get in on the act with sports-themed drink promotions. Sport is increasingly being used as a channel for the promotion of other harmful products like gambling and junk food.
Why do companies spend over £300 million on sponsoring sports in the UK? It’s not for love of the game, or a genuine wish to support grassroots development. It’s a business tactic to increase brand awareness and boost sales and profits – and it works. Alcohol companies are eager to align themselves with the positive, healthy image of sport and gain access to new customers. Advertising agencies, media buyers and broadcasters also do very well from these tie-ups.
Alcohol and sport don't mix
The simple truth is that alcohol and sport don’t mix. New guidelines issued by the UK Chief Medical Officers recommend not drinking alcohol at all before, during or directly after active physical sport. Many top athletes and sports stars are teetotal, recognising the impact that alcohol can have on their training regime, fitness and performance. A recent study found that among UK university sportspeople, those receiving alcohol industry sponsorship were four times more likely to report hazardous drinking than non-sponsored sportspeople.
Yet alcohol brands are allowed to dominate sporting events that attract significant numbers of children as well as adults. Sports sponsorship enables companies to establish a link between their brand and our sporting heroes at a deep, emotional level.
It provides companies with direct and regular access to impressionable young people who are most susceptible to positive, risk-free messaging about alcohol and to the effects of alcohol itself. There is strong evidence that exposure to alcohol marketing leads young people to drink at an earlier age, and to drink more.
Over two thirds of people in Scotland agree that children are getting the message that drinking alcohol is a normal part of enjoying sports events. We know that Scottish children as young as 10 years old are highly familiar with alcohol brands, and boys in particular associate beer brands with the football teams and tournaments they sponsor.
Scottish Women’s Football showed fantastic leadership when they decided not to accept sponsorship from companies in the alcohol or gambling industries because “we want women's football to be a clean sport, and one which helps to educate young girls. There are huge problems, in the west of Scotland especially, with gambling and alcoholism…it would be absolutely crazy to allow little girls and women to be running around in strips endorsing these sectors." Unfortunately others have been slow to follow.
Let's make alcohol sports sponsorship a thing of the past
That’s why Alcohol Focus Scotland, along with BMA (Scotland), Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, is asking politicians to sign our pledge: “I believe that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood.” We think children have the right to play, learn and socialise in places that are free from alcohol marketing, and we have received support from all of the political parties.
The Scottish Parliament has the power to restrict alcohol sponsorship of events in Scotland, and 70% of Scots support this. It’s true that removing alcohol sponsorship from sport won’t break the link completely as television is the most common medium for watching sport and broadcast advertising is reserved to Westminster. However, Scotland has taken the lead in other public health initiatives which England then followed and we can do the same again.
Countries including France and Norway have banned alcohol sponsorship in sport and other countries are considering restrictions. This summer’s Euro 2016 football tournament is hosted by France so no alcohol brands will be seen inside the stadiums. Unfortunately, the same rule doesn’t apply to broadcasters so fans of all ages will be exposed to alcohol adverts before, during and after matches.
Let’s take action to protect our children by ensuring that sport promotes healthy, active lifestyles and inspires participation. Let’s make alcohol sports sponsorship a thing of the past.
Alison Douglas, Chief Executive