Isaac
Years ago
Removing alcohol advertising from sport a bad idea
In a reaction to talk of Family First's Senator Steve Fielding riding a ruling against alcohol advertising and sport on the alcopops bill to get it through the Senate, Harold Mitchell, executive chairman of the Mitchell Communication Group, says that "taking alcohol out of sport [advertising] will make no difference to how much people drink."
Alcohol's sponsorship of sport covers the full range. It's not just rugby league but also tennis, AFL, cricket and everything else. Sport sponsorship dollars run into the hundreds of millions.He quotes a US report:
Not to have them would be a disaster. But more importantly, banning alcohol sponsorship would make no difference to any perceived alcohol problem.
...youth make up 13.3 per cent of the national television viewing population but on average only 9.1 per cent of the audience for televised sports with alcohol advertising.
SMH Business: Nice try, but blowing the whistle on grog won't work
Thoughts?