College signs pledge against alcohol marketing

28 Feb 2019

Our College is proud to announce that we’ve joined with a range of health organisations and MSPs from across the Scottish Parliament to sign up to Alcohol Focus Scotland’s pledge to protect young people from Alcohol Marketing.

The pledge states:

“I believe that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood. All children should play, learn and socialise in places that are healthy and safe, protected from exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship.”

The pledge is a response to the World Health Organisation’s Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol which recommends regulations to restrict alcohol marketing, to protect children and young people from alcohol harm.

Speaking as the College gave its support to the campaign, Dr Richard Hull, the College’s Honorary Secretary said:

“We know that young people’s bodies and brains are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol because they are still developing. Drinking alcohol during adolescence can have a range of negative impacts on health and well-being, with potentially serious and long-lasting consequences.

“We’ve signed up to support this campaign because existing advertising codes fail to prevent children under the age of eighteen from being exposed to alcohol advertising, both in terms of the quantity of alcohol adverts they see and the extent to which their content is appealing to young people.

“We look forward to working with other health organisations and politicians from all parties to ensure that government takes to necessary action to address this serious issue.

Category: Engagement