SA has a drinking problem, so why aren’t booze adverts banned?

SA’s love/hate affair with alcohol is no joke — and is often cited as the root cause of some of the country’s most violent crimes and deaths.

According to ministers of police and transport Bheki Cele and Fikile Mbalula, alcohol abuse is considered to be one of the major contributing factors to crimes such as rape, genderbased violence, road accidents and murder — the list goes on.

Experts are now calling for government to take a stand and ban the advertising of alcohol in SA completely — except at points of sale.

Prof Charles Parry, director of the alcohol, tobacco & other drugs research unit at the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC), said drastic changes needed to be made regarding alcohol advertising.

Parry said for the past 25 years he and his team have made a concerted effort to get government to take a decision on alcohol advertising.

“I originally thought we could get away with restrictions on the times in which adverts were flighted and how we could curtail adverts, for example when 30% to 40% of the audience watching were under-age, but I am now of the opinion that we should actually move towards banning alcohol advertising completely, except at points of sale.”

Parry said according to data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019, alcohol was listed as the sixth greatest risk factor for death and disability in SA.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also previously listed SA as the sixth highest consumer of alcohol in the world.

“We do have a problem. Advertising encourages drinking, even though they say it only gets people to choose between different brands.

“I would certainly support a complete ban on alcohol advertising, given the dire situation we have in this country — we really stick out globally with so many indicators — so we probably need some drastic strategies in terms of curtailing all alcohol advertising.”

A 2014 study compiled by the University of Cape Town and commissioned by the WHO revealed that total alcohol advertising expenditure increased from about R550m per year between 1997 and 2003 to more than R1.7bn in 2011 and 2012.

“The business sector depends on heavy drinking. You can blame the consumers but large parts of the liquor sector depend on heavy drinking.

“They couldn’t make their profits if everyone drank like me — I don’t drink enough,” said Parry.

He said SA should learn from the stance it took against the advertising of tobacco products.

In 1999 SA was a leader in tobacco control in Africa — banning all tobacco advertising and smoking in public places.

According to the Cancer Association of SA (CANSA), as a result, cigarette consumption in SA fell for eight consecutive years, while the percentage of adult smokers in the country has dropped from 32% to 28%.

So why has SA not taken the same stance against the advertising of alcohol?

Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA (SAAPA SA) director Maurice Smithers believes that there is a lack of interest from government, which has previously debated the matter but has as yet failed to make provisions to the law.

Smithers said in September 2013, cabinet approved the Control of Marketing of Alcohol Beverages Bill — a bill aimed at reducing alcohol abuse by limiting the advertising, sponsorship, and promotion of alcoholic beverages.

“It’s been an ongoing battle about that bill. It was drafted by the department of health and presented to cabinet, and it was unequivocal that all alcohol advertising and sponsorship must be completely prohibited — no half measures.

“Cabinet approved it and then said it must be released for public comment — that never happened.”

He said in 2017 the department of health told SAAPA SA that the Liquor Amendment Bill — proposed by the department of trade and industry in 2016 — contained a number of provisions that would restrict alcohol advertising, but not ban it — and was therefore awaiting the see the provisions.

Smithers said slogans such as “drink responsibly” attempt to promote the narrative that alcohol-related problems are a product only of the irresponsible behaviour of the consumer.

“They play no role in the fact that people drink in a dangerous way and that alcohol causes harm in society.”

According to the WHO the three “best buys” to reduce alcohol abuse are:

● Reducing availability of alcohol;

● Increasing the price of alcohol;

● Banning or limiting advertising;

Smithers and Parry both agreed that government needed to act fast at looking at amending laws about the advertising of alcohol in the country — sooner rather than later.

Advertising encourages drinking, even though they say it only gets people to choose between different brands. I would certainly support a complete ban on alcohol advertising