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While the big game itself is old news, the commercials are not: the impact of Super Bowl advertising is in full swing. And according to the more than 30,000 middle and high school students nationwide, who participated in the DrugFree Action Alliance Super Bowl Survey; while alcohol ads were widely remembered, they did not place in the top three favorites among youth, as in past surveys. (Source: Join Together, 2/12/10)

Marin Institute awarded prizes in its 2nd annual Free The BowlTM video contest to seven young people ages 10 to 25. The prizes honored these young filmmakers compelling counter-alcohol ads, which were previewed at the Free The Bowl From Big Al (Big Alcohol) 2010 World Premiere in San Rafael, California on February 4. The message to Big Alcohol in these videos was clear: The alcohol ads you show during the Super Bowl are inappropriate for the millions of vulnerable young viewers who watch the event. (Source: Marin Institute, 2/8/10)

HELP US MEET OUR GOAL – FOR FREE THE BOWLTM
Marin Institute created the Free The BowlTM contest last year to raise awareness around SPORTS and ADVERTISING by Big Alcohol companies. Anheuser-Busch InBev spends over $14 million a year creating the hottest beer ads to launch on Super Bowl Sunday. This event boasts over 100 million television viewers and is a CASH COW for the alcohol industry. The PROBLEM with SPORTS and BIG ALCOHOL ADS is that our children love watching professional sports as much as parents do! On Super Bowl Sunday, 20 million youth under the age of 21 will be sitting with their families watching these pervasive and excessive ads. … (Source: Marin Institute, 12/16/09)

Our Holiday Gift Wish: Help us get Super Bowl Beer Ads Off The Air! Give the people on your holiday list
a Free The Bowl donation in their name.
During Super Bowl 2008, the most watched commercial, with 103.2 million viewers, was the Bud Light Lime ad.
18 million youth under 21 are exposed to beer ads on Super Bowl Sunday. Anheuser-Busch InBev spent over $14 million on ad time for Super Bowl 2009 beer ads. On Super Bowl Sunday 2007, there was a 25% increase in total alcohol beverage cooler sales and a 13% increase in beer sales. Every year alcohol sales are the highest in the two-week period before the Super Bowl. Marin Institute Donation

11 November 2009. The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) has seen the promotional release from the journal ‚Addiction‘ and wishes to clarify a number of points.
ESA is the trade body representing the sponsorship industry in Europe. The Association’s 240 members include sports governing bodies, arts companies, sports clubs, sponsorship consultancies, suppliers to the sector and also sponsors. Sponsor members include brands such as Visa, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, National Express, Guardian Newspapers, Aviva and Castrol.
ESA has a number of drinks industry members which account for three percent of its membership. The Association’s agenda is independent as it looks after the benefits of sponsorship in general and its views are not set by the drinks sector.
Karen Earl, ESA Chairman, acknowledges that the alcohol sector is an important source of sponsorship revenue and says that ESA is highly mindful of the way that alcohol sponsorship has become linked in the press and in some people’s minds with problem drinking. … (Source: Eurocare Newsletter 12/1/09) Comment: There is a lack of studies on sponsoring. But sponsoring is even more than advertising, it effects the public – and the sponsored organisation. That’s common sense.

SAN RAFAEL, CA – Marin Institute has launched its second annual, nationwide anti-alcohol-advertising contest, FREE the BOWL™. This year’s theme is to „Free the Bowl from Big Al,“ (a.k.a Big Alcohol), as youth contestants will identify where they see the negative influences of Big Al in their lives. (Source: Marin Institute, 12/1/09) Free the Bowl

The National Football League (NFL) would like teams to limit tailgating to 3-1/2 hours prior to kickoff, but so far only the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have adopted such a policy. The NFL has adopted a „Fan Code of Conduct“ in hopes of deterring behavior that league officials worry is scaring families away from games. The code includes 43 recommendations, and a league auditor is checking the NFL’s 32 teams for compliance. (Source: Join Together, 11/23/09))

The University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota are requiring season-ticket holders with a history of alcohol offenses to submit to game-day breath tests in order to attend future football games, the New York Times reported Nov. 19. (Source: Join Together, 11/20/09)

College athletes who use performance-enhancing substances may be at heightened risk of misusing alcohol and using recreational drugs as well, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study, of 234 male athletes at one university, found that those who used performance enhancers — ranging from steroids to stimulants to weight-loss supplements — were more likely to admit to heavy drinking and using drugs like marijuana and cocaine. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/12/09)

Researchers from Australia and the UK are calling for a new approach to the debate over whether alcohol industry sponsorship of sports increases drinking among sports participants. They want to shift the burden of proof to the alcohol industry.
The debate over sports sponsorship saw renewed activity last year when the findings of a 2008 New Zealand study among sports participants showed that those who received alcohol industry sponsorship – especially in the form of free or discounted alcohol -drank more heavily than those not in receipt of such sponsorship. The study received extensive media coverage, but the Portman Group (a public relations body set up by the alcohol industry) and the European Sponsorship Association (whose members include leading alcohol producers) dismissed the results, citing no causal relationship between sponsorships and alcohol misuse. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/10/09) Online-Comment: Yes, but such studies should be done by a neutral university, not paid by the alcohol industry, as most studies, paid by an industry get a positive result for the industry.