www.alkoholpolitik.ch

If we are serious about educating our children at every level from elementary school through college, we’d better recognize that money alone will not solve the problem. We can fill our schools with all the modern gadgetry — computers, great graphics, television screens in every classroom, internet tutoring — and we can pay teachers, principals, professors and college presidents more and more money. That’s the easy stuff.

The tough stuff is revamping communities, strengthening parents and families, and getting rid of the drugs and the alcohol abuse that infect so many schools and campuses. If we don’t tackle the tough stuff, these high ticket investments are not likely to have more than a marginal impact and we’ll still be “Waiting for ‘Superman’”. (by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., The Chairmans Corner, 10/21/10)

Local authorities are to be given new powers to stop supermarkets and off licences offering cheap alcohol deals, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Councils to lead new crackdown on cheap alcohol deals
Among the most eye-catching is the new power to put a stop to cheap alcohol offers at supermarkets if such deals seriously undercut prices charged at local pubs
Ministers will act to put the responsibility for tackling binge drinking much more firmly on to councils as a part of a big drive towards „localism“ this week. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 10/17/10) quedit.com, 10/16/10

Eastern European teenagers, particularly girls, are closing the drinking gap with their Western European and American counterparts, Reuters Health reported Oct. 4. According to a new study, the number of adolescents in Eastern Europe who reported getting drunk rose by 40 percent between 1998 and 2006. Although the increase was seen in both genders, the rate was higher among girls. (Source: Join Together, 10/12/10) with our online-comment: J.P. tells us the arguments of the alcohol industry. They won’t become better by reproducing them always again. Alcohol taxes on alcopops have dropped the sales in Switzerland by 75%. Binge drinking is still rising. The effect of advertising is clearly shown by recent research. You can hardly find any government in Western Europe which started new alcohol taxes or has risen existing ones. The pressure of the industry is just too strong.

When Chris Rock says something provocative he follows it with: “Yup, I said it.“
When Bruce Horovitz of USA Today sent me the ad copy for the new SKYY Vodka advertising campaign and asked what I thought of it, I opened the file and blurted “It’s porn-a-hol.”
Yup, I said it. The word appropriately describes a type of advertising for alcoholic beverages that is exploitive and soft-porn. Unfortunately, that’s not a rare practice in the world of Big Alcohol.
This isn’t the first time SKYY Vodka and its corporate owner Campari have conducted pornaholic advertising campaigns. They have a history of using revealing images with (parts of) women’s bodies in submissive positions to sell their products. And no, we’re not going to link to every single one of them here.
The messaging is simple: “drink the booze, get the girl.” (And for young women: “be the girl,” since they’ve placed the latest ads in Cosmopolitan and InStyle magazines, as well as Rolling Stone and Maxim.) (Source: Marin Institute News, 10/6/10-9/30/10)

Alcohol makers worldwide don’t want Thailand to set a precedent by requiring large, graphic warning labels on all wine, beer, and liquor sold there, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported Sept. 27.
If the Thai government approves the plan, 30 percent of every alcohol bottle’s surface would be covered by a label warning about health impacts. Pictures of diseased livers, a bloody traffic accident, a suicide, and a man hitting his wife have been proposed, along with text such as, „Alcohol consumption could harm yourself, children and family.“ (Source: Join Together, 10/5/10)

More people are drinking than 20 years ago, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center analysis of national alcohol consumption patterns. Gathered from more than 85,000 respondents, the data suggests that a variety of factors, including social, economic and ethnic influences and pressures, are involved in the increase. (Source: Medical News Today, 9/30/10)

…Urges The American Academy Of Pediatrics
The monumental task of persuading children and adolescents to say „No“ to drugs, alcohol and tobacco is being constantly undermined by the $25 billions‘ worth of advertising and marketing each year, which has precisely the opposite effect, says the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
A new AAP policy statement – „Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse and the Media“ – appears in the latest issue of the peer reviewed medical journal Pediatrics. The policy statement calls for a total ban on all tobacco advertising, restrictions on the advertising of alcoholic drinks, and a ban on erectile dysfunction drug ads before 10pm. (Source: Medical News Today, 9/27/10)

BMA Scotland will today (Wednesday 22nd September 2010) call on members of the Scottish Parliament Health Committee to support an amendment to end supermarket reward points for alcohol in Scotland. The amendment relates to the Alcohol Bill which sets out measures to end alcohol promotions in off-license premises. (Source: Medical News Today, 9/22/10)

Michigan’s Liquor Control Commission will scrutinize the labels and packaging of alcoholic energy drinks, the Associated Press reported Sept. 18. The regulatory agency is concerned about the health effects of the drinks, and whether they are inappropriately marketed to minors.
„We believe that these products sometimes are misleading people,” said commission chairwoman Nida Samona. The commission will require that companies change the labels or packaging of drinks if regulators believe they do not accurately represent the amount and percentage of alcohol and caffeine they contain.
Companies will have 90 days to make changes. „If they don’t comply, it comes off the shelves,“ Samona said. (Source: Join Together, 9/21/10)

Teaching even young children to think critically about alcohol and tobacco advertising may reduce their risk for using either substance in the future, ScienceDaily reported Aug. 24.
In a study conducted by Innovation Research Training, Inc., of North Carolina, about 700 third to fifth graders were randomly assigned to participate in „Media Detective,“ a two-week course designed to boost critical thinking skills with regard to advertising, or to a waiting list. (Source: Join Together, 9/17/10)