Restricting alcohol advertising and promotion: consultation

10. Print advertising

10.1 Alcohol is advertised in newspapers and magazines within Scotland. A survey of over 3000 young people aged 11-19 years old in the UK found that 18.8% had seen an alcohol advert in newspapers or magazines in the last week. Four in ten had seen one in the last month.

10.2 We know that around a third of adults consume news via newspapers. Newspaper circulation figures in Scotland demonstrate that over 70,000 people purchase the Daily Record daily with around 60,000 receiving the free Metro in Scotland daily. This means that alcohol-related advertisements could reach a significant number of adult readers.

10.3 This provides an additional source of exposure to alcohol marketing within our society and forms a portion of the cumulative effect, previously discussed. This has an impact on those in recovery who try to limit their exposure to alcohol to ensure they do not relapse. It also means that children and young people, can be exposed when reading print media.

10.4 If print advertising was not restricted alongside other restrictions presented above then it may provide an opportunity for increased expenditure on print marketing, instead of the other forms of marketing being restricted. Restricting alcohol advertising within printed publications may therefore form part of a comprehensive approach to reduce the impact that alcohol marketing has in Scotland.

Question 19

Do you think that we should prohibit advertising of alcohol in newspapers and magazines produced in Scotland?

Please tick one

Yes

No

Don’t Know

Please explain your answer in the text box.

Exceptions

10.5 If this was taken forward, some consideration would need to be given to specialist consumer publications, trade press and industry-focused publications. These are unlikely to be seen, on a large scale, by children and young people or by those in recovery.

Question 20

What, if any, exceptions do you think there should be to prohibiting alcohol advertising in newspapers and magazines produced in Scotland?

Please provide your answer in the text box.

Print media from outside of Scotland

10.6 One potential issue with prohibiting alcohol advertising in newspapers and magazines in Scotland is that any regulation is unlikely to be able to extend to publications printed outside of Scotland and distributed in Scotland. This is an issue that other European countries, including Sweden, have encountered with the operation of alcohol marketing restrictions.

10.7 If we were to take action to restrict print advertising in Scotland, we would also look to encourage the UK Government to introduce complementary restrictions on alcohol advertising in newspapers and magazines produced in the Rest of UK and distributed in Scotland.