EditorialA powerhouse line-up sporting greats have teamed up to help launch the End Alcohol Advertising in Sport campaign in Melbourne today – a campaign calling for Australia’s major sporting codes to cut ties with alcohol sponsorship.
The campaign comes as a new report, Alcohol Marketing During the 2018 Australian Football Grand Finals, reveals children were exposed to more than three instances of alcohol advertising every minute of the 2018 National Rugby League Grand Final.
The study, produced by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), investigated the amount and type of alcohol advertising broadcast on free to air television during the 2018 Australian Football League (AFL) and the 2018 National Rugby League (NRL) Grand Finals.
The report identified 118 occurrences of alcohol advertising across the 161 minutes of AFL Grand Final game time.
Shockingly, saturation of alcohol advertising during the NRL grand final was more than three times higher, with a total of 365 occurrences of alcohol advertising and 3.3 instances per minute during the broadcast of the game (including halftime).
Both of these games took place during children’s viewing hours.
FARE Chief Executive Michael Thorn says that children’s exposure to alcohol advertising during two of the biggest sporting contests of the year is the alarming consequence of a nonsensical exemption in the Commercial Television Code of Practice.
“The evidence is very clear that children’s exposure to alcohol advertising encourages them to start drinking earlier, to binge drink more often, and to start a journey toward alcohol-related harm.
“It’s time for regulators to put an end to the alcohol industry’s deliberate efforts to encourage systematic alcohol harm and abuse in its customers of tomorrow,” Mr Thorn said.
Australians are being asked to lend their support to the campaign and ensure Australia’s political leaders hear their voices by signing up online at the End Alcohol Advertising in Sport campaign website.
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