Government labels to tackle binge drinking 'will be ignored'

by Darren Davidson Brand Republic 09-May-08, 08:00

LONDON - The government's attempt to tackle the UK's binge drinking culture with new health warnings and unit labelling on all alcoholic drinks is unlikely to succeed, according to research by Mintel.

The plans, which will be phased in by the end of the year, will get only a lukewarm reception, with men in particular considering them a waste of time, the survey says.

It found only two in five men think health warnings are a good idea, compared with 49% of women. Meanwhile, 36% of women believe that these labels will make them think about how much they drink, falling to just 30% among men.

Mathilde Dudouit, senior research analyst at Mintel, said: "While recent press coverage has seen women come under attack for binge drinking, they are clearly more open to these new proposed labels.

"For women at least, this new initiative could well be a step in the right direction to combat excessive drinking. Meanwhile, men clearly are much more set in their ways when it comes to what they drink, and it will be harder to convince them to change their habits."

The survey also found that only two in five men would find it useful to know the number of units they are getting through, compared to 53% of women.

Dudouit said the trend towards stronger drinks and larger glasses meant that British people often no longer know how many units they are drinking.

"Without clear information, many people will be unaware whether they are exceeding their weekly alcohol intake, or whether they are still within the safe drink drive limits after an evening out," she said.

The alcoholic drinks industry is estimated to be worth £41 billion a year in sales. Last year, drinkers in the UK downed more than 7.7bn litres of alcohol, a rate of 244 litres a second.

Comments

David Pearce - 09/05/2008

Fancy a pint anyone?

Mark Griffiths - 09/05/2008

The government has to tackle binge drinking through educational messages. But success will only be minimal unless t's done in tandem with pricing people's binge-drinking habits out of the market. Doing so has seemed like too much of a nettle to grasp. It would take a brave government to whack so much tax on alcohol consumed in public premises. Or a government with nothing to lose. That knows it has no chance of winning the next election anyway. But I wouldn't bet on it.