Alcohol Brands To Face Tougher Restrictions

Alcohol brands could face tougher marketing restrictions in pubs and bars following a move by industry body, The Portman Group, to tighten the existing guidelines.

The Group, which was set up over ten years ago by the UK’s leading drinks manufacturers, has issued a public consultation document aiming to impose stricter codes on alcohol marketing in an attempt to avoid Government legislation.

The document proposes a voluntary ban on marketing techniques that appeal to children and encourage excessive drinking among adults. It also suggests that the existing codes of practice be extended to cover marketing techniques used in bars and clubs such as sponsorship, merchandising and text messaging. Tougher regulation of the promotion of “shooters and slammers” is also proposed as a way of combating rapid drinking.

The document states: “There has been persistent and often well justified concern recently over the nature of some promotions on the grounds that they encourage excessive consumption and anti-social behaviour.”

A spokesman for The Portman Group, added: “We are currently in the process of updating the self regulatory code of practice that governs the naming, labelling and promotion of alcoholic drinks. We are not clamping down on alcohol advertising but trying to make the existing guidelines more effective.”

The industry body plans to use responses to the consultation document to prepare a revised draft of the code, which will be submitted to the Office of Fair Trading before it is published later this year.

Portman Group: 020 7907 3700 www.portman-group.org.uk

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