Alcohol Education and Awareness – What should we be aiming for?

1. Alcohol Education and Awareness – What should we be aiming for? Peter Rice, Consultant Psychiatrist, NHS Tayside Chair, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland.

2. POSSIBLE GOALS OF ALCOHOL EDUCATION • Changing Knowledge • Changing Attitudes (Personal and Public) • Changing Behaviour (Less Drinking, Delaying Onset of use)

3. TECHNIQUES OF ALCOHOL EDUCATION • - Information based approaches • Personal development and skills based approaches • Social Influence programmes • Normative education (Social Norms approach) • Media Literacy (Build knowledge of alcohol promotion approaches and develop resistance skills.)

4. INTENSIVE MODELS • Multi-modal approaches using school as focus for family and community action (eg Project Northland. Perry 1998) • Improvements in family communication on alcohol • Some impact on drinking behaviour up to age 14 only • Effect not sustained after programme ended. • Strengthening Families Programme (Allen D et al, AERC 2008) • Families approach with high risk Children • Seven sessions with whole family. • Communication skills and and a range of risk behaviours • Delayed onset of alcohol consumption

5. What works? International Review of Policy Measures Authored by Public Health Academics Sponsored by WHO

7. It is likely that even with adequate resources, strategies that try to use education to prevent alcohol related harm are unlikely to deliver large or sustained benefits. Education alone is too weak a strategy to counteract other forces that pervade the environment.

8. YOUNG PEOPLE’S EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL MARKETING BRITISH CODE OF ADVERTISING PRACTICE (Broadcast Media) Alcohol advertisements must not: Be likely to appeal strongly to people under 18, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture or showing adolescent or juvenile behaviour Include a person or character whose example is likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who has a strong appeal to those aged under 18. COMMITTEE OF ADVERTISING PRACTICE CODE (non Broadcast Media) As above and, 18.15 Marketing communications must not be directed at people under 18 through the selection of media or the context in which they appear. No medium should be used to advertise alcoholic drinks if more than 25% of its audience is under 18 years of age.

9. YOUNG PEOPLE’S EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL MARKETING * Note: question wording varied between stages

10. Effects of Marketing Exposure • After controlling for important confounding variables significant associations emerged between awareness, appreciation and involvement with alcohol marketing at Stage 1 with drinking behaviour at Stage 2: • uptake of drinking • amount consumed Gordon, MacKintosh and Moodie (in press) The impact of alcohol marketing on youth drinking behaviour: A two-stage cohort study Alcohol and Alcoholism

11. HOW DO THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY APPROACH MARKETING ? Available from UK Parliament’s Health Select Committee Web Site. 2009-10 Reports

13. Lambrini “can make you and the girls forget your dull working week and transform you into the glamour pusses you know you should be”

14. Young men think about four things……. We brew one and sponsor two of them…. Molson Coors Internal Company Document 2008

16. “3 Aspects of ‘Belonging’… Initiation: Expressions of the moment when an individual joins a group and finds a happy home in the pack – The Moment of Belonging. Celebration: An expression of the sheer joy of belonging – The Joy of Belonging. Contagion: An expression of the magnetic power of the group – The Power of Belonging”. “Carling celebrates, initiates and promotes the togetherness of the pack, their passions and their pint because Carling understands that things are better together.”

18. Appealing to masculinity and femininity

19. Understanding the Market

20. Understanding the Market

21. Where do you fit in ?

22. WHERE SHOULD WE BE HEADED? Education → Marketing Information → Attitudes Balance up the two sides ? Is self regulation a sustainable approach in Alcohol Marketing?