Banni pubblicitari alcolici demoliti dopo un contraccolpo del settore

I wonder if this government can go a week without some sort of u-turn. They really *really* need to grow a spine

Do beer companies really think we will forget about them? Take the win and save the money ffs. Not everything is a branding opportunity. 

Plans to restrict the advertising of alcohol as part of the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS have been scrapped following widespread industry backlash.

After a week of extensive lobbying from the industry and backlash from ministers, the Department for Health & Social Care has significantly watered down proposals to tackle alcohol-related harm.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in full on Thursday (3 July), contains no concrete commitment to introduce either HFSS-style restrictions on alcohol advertising pre-watershed and online. Nor does it include any mention of introducing minimum unit pricing in England.

In fact, the only new measure included specifically to target alcohol-related harm is a “mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages”.

The warnings would “ensure greater public awareness of the health risks of alcohol consumption and help consumers make more informed, healthier choices”, the government’s 10-year plan said.

Beyond measures to tackle alcohol-related harm, the government plans to consult on changing the upper strength threshold at which a drink may be described as alcohol-free to 0.5% abv, which would bring the UK in line with international standards. It will also “explore options to restrict access” to low & no-alcohol products to under-18s.

Health warnings
The Portman Group welcomed the government’s commitment to revisit alcohol-free descriptors, but said it didn’t believe there was a case for wider health warnings on packaging.

“As the alcohol industry regulatory body for marketing, we ensure that adults who choose to drink have actionable and evidence-based information to make informed choices,” said CEO Matt Lambert. “The vast majority of alcohol products in the UK already carry our best practice standards including pregnancy warnings, unit information, the chief medical officer low-risk drinking guidelines, and a link to information from Drinkaware. The industry is also making great strides in adding calorie and other nutritional labelling to packaging.

“We welcome the chance to work with government to further the uptake of low & no-alcohol alternatives as a useful tool to aid moderation, and clear up consumer confusion around product descriptors, including raising the alcohol-free threshold in line with our international peers for which we have long advocated.”

Read more: Banning alcohol advertising would hammer Britain’s beleaguered booze industry
“Aggressive lobbying” by alcoholic drinks suppliers had caused the government’s strategy to tackle alcohol harm to be “stripped”, said Jem Roberts, head of external affairs at the Institute of Alcohol Studies.

“It’s frankly embarrassing to launch a ‘prevention’ plan that ignores the most effective ways to prevent alcohol harm,” said Roberts. “Deaths are at their highest level in decades and have risen over 40% in recent years – yet the government has dodged proven policies like minimum unit pricing, marketing restrictions, and availability controls.

“Alcohol is the second-biggest cause of death and disability among working-age people. It hits the poorest hardest and drains the economy – costing nearly 180,000 working years in England alone. Prevention doesn’t just save lives, it supports economic growth by boosting productivity and freeing up money currently lost to harm.

“We support clearer labelling, but it must be developed independently. The alcohol industry has kept people in the dark for years – and it has no place writing public health policy. If ministers can’t act now, we need a full independent review to cut through industry noise and deliver real change.”

Ah yea big corporate companies who buy smaller breweries and ruin them. Cant go upsetting them can we

Considering how much money alcohol costs society, especially with regards to the NHS, you would think the government would have a bigger backbone here. Then again, as with gambling and fast food, money talks louder and Labour will not want to pass up donations, staff secondments and sport/concerts tickets from alcohol companies.

I’m sure there was a backlash from the tobacco companies as well when that ban was brought in, but it was still banned.

We must allow people to market toxic metabolic waste products or else.

centrists really wanna seem sensible and pragmatic but they always just end up conceding more and more to business and right wing interests. it isn’t sensible or smart to keep giving your wallet to the wallet inspector