Ed Balls tipped to call for 9pm watershed on alcohol advertising

by Gemma Charles, Marketing 07-Dec-07, 16:00

LONDON - The Children's secretary Ed Balls, a key ally of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is poised call for a 9pm watershed for drinks advertising this weekend.

The move will be seen as the strongest indication yet that the Government intends to push through the restrictive measure.

Balls is understood to have been influenced by a report by Alcohol Concern that claims there is a spike in alcohol ads between 3pm and 5pm. According to insiders, he has briefed national Sunday newspaper political editors in a bid to get maximum coverage of his views on the subject. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, denied that this was the case.

The drinks industry has maintained that a 9pm watershed is an unnecessary measure as the scheduling rules around already prevents them appearing during or around children's programmes. They cannot be shown at other times if the percentage of child viewers rises to 20% above the proportion of children in the general population.

Comments

M Bowley - 07/12/2007

That's a great idea ,that means they'll be no more pissed up people in the street soon and all thanks to Ed.

Ron Coomber - 07/12/2007

What's the point when Sainsbury are selling a litre of vodka for a fiver. The man's an idiot!!

Lee Bailey - 07/12/2007

I am the Head of News for the Department of Children, Schools and Families. I spoke to the journalist that has written this article today to say that there is absolutely no truth to it whatsoever. I organised and attended the briefing where Mr Balls was explaining the Government's approach to commercialisation on childhood and can assure all readers that this story is factually incorrect and utter nonsense. I am requesting that Brand Republic remove this article from the site as soon as possible please.

Jeremy Lee - 10/12/2007

I'm confused Lee Bailey - given the interviews by Ed Balls over the weekend on various TV stations, a consultation is being carried out. Is this another example of Labour news management, albeit under a slightly different regime?