Retailers, manufacturers to tackle alcohol misuse

The UK government yesterday unveiled an Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England, drawn up by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and designed to tackle the growing problem of alcohol misuse by clamping down on binge drinking, strengthening the powers of the police to tackle alcohol-related crimes and improving the treatment for people with alcohol problems.

Alcohol-related injuries and illness costs the health service nearly £2 billion every year - around 70 per cent of weekend A&E admissions are currently alcohol-related, according to Strategy Unit statistics – while crime and disorder, illness and injury and loss of productivity related to excessive alcohol consumption are also a huge burden on the tax payer.

The government’s strategy​ is based on partnerships with the drinks industry, the retail sector, health professionals and the police, and is aimed at curbing excessive alcohol consumption without penalising the vast majority of consumers who enjoy alcohol without any ‘anti-social’ side effects.

In a statement issued yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “Millions of us enjoy drinking alcohol with few if any ill effects. Indeed, moderate drinking can bring some health benefits. But increasingly, alcohol misuse by a small minority has caused problems: crime and antisocial behaviour in town and city centres, and harm to health as a result of binge- and chronic drinking.​

“This strategy aims to target alcohol-related harm and its causes without interfering with the pleasure enjoyed by the millions of people who drink responsibly. It is vital that individuals can make informed and responsible decisions about their own levels of alcohol consumption. Everyone needs to be able to balance their right to enjoy a drink with the potential risks to their own - and others' - health and wellbeing.”​

So how will the drinks industry be involved? Drinks manufacturers have agreed to sign up to a Social Responsibility Charter which is likely to see the introduction of new measures to clamp down on the irresponsible advertising of alcoholic drinks – in particular ads which promote or condone excessive drinking – as well as a pledge not to manufacture products which appeal to under-age drinkers or that encourage people to drink well over recommended limits.

In addition, manufacturers will be asked to put the ‘sensible drinking’ message clearly on bottles alongside information about unit content, as well as seeking alternative packaging for their drinks, in particular finding alternatives to glass.

Finally, the drinks industry has pledged to contribute to a new fund to finance innovative schemes to address alcohol misuse at national and local levels.

As for drinks retailers (specialist drinks stores, supermarkets, pubs and clubs), they will be subject to a new Code of Good Conduct designed to tackle incidents of under-age drinking, alcohol-related health problems and alcohol-related crime and disorder in town centres. They will also be asked to contribute to programmes designed to provide targeted education and information to local schools about the dangers of alcohol misuse.

The industry – both producers and retailers – has broadly welcomed the government’s new strategy. But the Portman Group, the self-regulatory body set up by drinks producers to promote responsible drinking and sensible marketing of products, stressed that the strategy would only work if everyone remained committed.

“There are serious and growing problems of alcohol misuse and the industry must continue to play its part in tackling these,”​ said Jean Coussins, chief executive of the Portman Group. “I am pleased that the government has recognised that it can build on the good practice already in place amongst leading companies within the industry. The industry must do even more to deliver against the tough targets set out in the strategy, or face government action.”​

The Portman Group is supported by some of the biggest names in the UK drinks industry, including Bacardi Brown Forman Brands, Carlsberg, Coors Brewers, Diageo, Enterprise Inns, HP Bulmer, Interbrew, Laurel Pub Company, Mitchells & Butlers, Pathfinder Pubs/Union Pub Company, Pernod Ricard, Pubmaster, Scottish & Newcastle and Thresher Group, and while all these companies have pledged to bide by the rulings of the Group (on issues such as marketing products to under-age drinkers, for example), there are plenty of companies which do not.

Coussins called on more producers to follow the lead of Portman Group members and add unit labels to all their products, use brand advertising and sponsored events to promote responsibility messages to consumers and discourage retailers from using their brands in irresponsible promotions.

“For the past three years the Portman Group has been the only organisation campaigning nationally against drunkenness. In the light of the strategy’s emphasis on working in partnership to target binge-drinking, we now look forward to discussing with government ways in which we can expand our campaigning work with their help.”​

Coussins added that continued compliance with the Portman Group’s Code of Practice on the naming, packaging and promotion of alcoholic drinks was essential to maintaining the government’s confidence in the industry (and, of course, ensuring that it does not decide to impose official restrictions on a sector which has, until now, been mostly self-regulatory). The Code has in fact worked well, for the most part, preventing the marketing of products such as Cannabis beer and RTDs called Shag on the grounds that they were irresponsible.

Drinks industry the problem, not the solution?​

Despite the influence of the Portman Group, the partnership between government and industry is likely to be an uneasy one. Faced with an increasingly fickle consumer base, the drinks industry has been at the forefront of new product innovation a bid to interest – and more importantly, keep – new consumers.

Flavoured alcoholic beverages (FABs) are a prime example of this kind of innovative approach, a product which created an entirely new category and interested a whole new generation of drinkers in spirits – but which was also criticised for targeting under-age drinkers.

In the early days of the category in the 1990s, the advertising of alcopops and FABs often featured cartoon characters or other elements which critics said appealed to under-age drinkers, and while these have been eliminated for the most part by the Portman Group, critics still point to the fact that FABs still promote excessive consumption by the very fact that the alcoholic content is masked by the predominant fruit flavour of most of the brands – which makes it harder for consumers to assess how much they have drunk.

It is no coincidence that some of the big drinks companies which fund the Portman Group in the UK are the same as those recently accused of promoting under-age drinking in the US through their beer or FAB brands – a clear indication that there is still much work to do to convince critics that self-regulation is the best way to reduce the impact of alcohol abuse.

Of course, drinks producers are not the only ones implicated in this issue, and the retail trade will have to play a major role in reducing alcohol abuse - a role which it accepts and welcomes.

Kate Ison of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) told FoodandDrinkEurope.com​: "BRC members already follow promotional codes to encourage responsible behaviour when it comes to alcohol and are also working on the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS), to stamp out underage sales.​

"Off-licence traders fully support the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and look forward to working with the government on this."​

Ison recognised that retailers had just as important a role to play as drinks manufacturers. "When it comes to their own label products, retailers are in the situation of being both manufacturer and marketer of the product, and so can take direct action when it comes to reviewing the way they advertise and promote the products. They can also work more closely with brand owners to ensure that their in-store promotional camapigns are appropriate."​

With pubs able to apply for 24-hour opening from next year – and with the likely liberalisation of alcohol sales through the off-trade coming at the same time – consumers will be able to pick up alcohol whenever and wherever they want. With many supermarkets now open 24 hours a day, and therefore the possibility of buying alcohol whenever consumers want, there is a serious risk of an escalation in alcohol-related problems rather than a reduction.

While no-one is suggesting that the retail sales of alcoholic drinks should be further restricted rather than liberalised , the government’s strategy calls on them to cut down on promotions such as ‘buy one, get one free’ for alcoholic drinks – promotions which effectively lead to increased consumption and higher sales. Pub ‘Happy Hours’ are also likely to come under closer scrutiny for the same reason.

But with promotions such as these often proving a key tool in attracting custom in the increasingly competitive retail sector, supermarkets, off licences and pubs are likely to be reluctant to give them up – meaning that there could be stormy waters ahead for the government and trade alike.