Video of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, UK, London Children see alcohol marketing, they remember it, it appeals to them, and it leads to them drinking from an earlier age. Much of this is nonconsensual outdoor advertising, undermining the human rights of children. Read a report about alcohol marketing
In recent years the Dutch government gave a € 6.6 million grant to Heineken for so-called development aid in Africa. Prime Minister Rutte praised Heineken in September 2015 during a speech to the UN, because of the purchase of beer barley from local farmers in Africa.
Research journalists of the Dutch television-program Zembla studied the impact of the € 1.3 million grant Heineken received from the Dutch government for the acquisition of two state breweries in Ethiopia.
Who benefited? The advantage for Heineken is obvious: net sales rose sharply and the company now controls 30% of the Ethiopian beer market. But that does not apply to the Ethiopian government: Heineken currently pays – despite increased sales – less income tax than before the acquisition in 2011. In addition, Heineken also paid much less wage tax. That’s because since the acquisition of the two breweries, 699 Ethiopians were fired by Heineken.
The impact on poverty in the country and on the beer barley farmers who participate is unclear. The latter have a higher yield and a better price, but may only supply the breweries of Heineken. An expert of the IMF judges the results of the Dutch policy as a lose-lose-win situation. A loss for the Ethiopian treasury, a loss for the personnel of the breweries and a win for Heineken.
Source: Zembla.vara.nl via our colleagues at STAP the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy.
New evidence is mounting that bottles of beer, wine and spirits should carry cigarette-style graphic health warnings to make clear that alcohol is linked to cancer, infertility and violence. Additionally, a number of Canadian jurisdictions reportedly are preparing mandatory warning label laws, in line with the new findings. Research by Canadian PhD. Student Mohammed … Read More →
In this presentation Tairi Taht, Health attaché of the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, explains the plans that are currently proposed in Estonia to curb alcohol harm. The presentation was held at the European Parliament on the 17th of November, during the “Alcohol – Why is it a big thing?’ event.
Dr. Pat Kenny, School of Marketing, Dublin Institute of Technology, presenting to the Oireachtas Committee on Health & Children for pre-legislative scrutiny of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 – discussing advertising marketing and raising questions about the real intent of Diageo Role Models. Thanks to @IrelandUnlocked.
In this video from 2013 David Jernigan of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health speaks on US Alcohol Regulation. This video is part of a Youtube series that originally formed one presentation given at the 2013 National Roundtable on Girls, Women and Alcohol.
Americans will soon have the option of consuming alcohol in a new way. It’s called powdered alcohol, or Palcohol, and it’s recently been approved by the government. The above video gives a discription of the product as well as the problems it brings along.
Read more:
Powdered Alcohol ‘Palcohol’ Sounds Like An Accident Waiting To Happen (Forbes.com 03/13/15)
POWDERED ALCOHOL: NEW PRODUCT NOT APPROVED BY US GOVERNMENT (EUCAM 04/28/14)
See also:
Video: Government approves sale of powdered alcohol (Fox News 03/14/15)
Video: Palcohol: powdered alcohol (CBC News 03/17/15)
Irish public broadcaster RTE recently aired a program dedicated about the current critical uproar about drinks producer Diageo funding the public health campaign ‘Stop out-of-control-Drinking.’ The above video gives an introduction to these current events, followed by a discussion between Fergus Finlay, Barnardos CEO and chair of Stop Out Of Control Drinking campaign, and Senator Jillian VanturnHout, a children’s rights campaigner who’s published an open letter criticizing Diageos involvement in the campaign, undersigned by more then 50 individuals and organizations in the health sector.
See also:
Campaigner admits ‘gap in credibility over funding from Diageo’, the Independent (03/20/15)
Alcohol giants are part of the problem – not the solution, the Independent (03/19/15)
Varadkar urged to make his position clear on alcohol awareness campaign, Irish Examinar (03/18/15)
Former tobacco lobby group hired by Diageo anti-alcohol campaign, the Independent (03/10/15)