He calls for urgent changes to Britain's 'flawed' drinks advertising regulations in an editorial in the British Medical Journal, which is published to coincide with a major report calling for all alcohol advertising to be banned.
The editorial cites research by the Rand Corporation for the European Commission which shows that 10-15 year olds in the UK see 10% more alcohol advertising on TV than their parents do. When it comes to alcopops, they see 50% more.
And the situation is set to worsen as advertisers increasingly spread their messages via digital media, say Gerard Hastings and co-author Nich Sheron, clinical hepatologist at the University of Southampton.
Their comments coincide with the publication of Health First: an evidence-based alcohol strategy for the UK, a report which calls for a ban on all alcohol advertising, and minimum alcohol pricing. Gerard Hastings is a member of the strategy group which compiled the report.
To see Gerard Hastings discussing the proposed strategy with Professor Linda Bauld, University of Stirling, go to this link.
Further information
Professor Gerard Hastings is a member of The Open University's Centre for Strategy and Marketing. He is founder/director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Centre for Tobacco Control Research based at Stirling University and The Open University. He is currently leading APISE, a major study of the effectiveness of alcohol control policies.
The British Medical Journal editorial Alcohol Marketing: Grooming the Next Generation was published on 1 March. Current OU students can access it via the OU Library using their Open University Computer Username (OUCU) and password. Its reference is BMJ 2013;346:f1227. For help in accessing electronic journals through the OU Library database go to How can I get access to a particular journal on the Library website.
Posted 26 March 2013
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