Guidelines to protect young people susceptible to adverts will not apply to all
The Alcohol Advertising Board has presented a new set of alcohol marketing guidelines to protect children and young people against alcohol advertisements, reports Berlingske Tidende.
The guidelines state that models and actors must be at least 25 years old before they can be used in the marketing of alcoholic beverages, and that alcohol advertisements can only be shown when the proportion of children and adolescents in the audience is less than 30 percent.
"We must focus on protecting children from thinking that alcohol is something for them, and avoid tempting adolescents to purchase alcohol," said Ejvind Sandal, the chairman of the Alcohol Advertising Board.
The Consumer Council, which is represented on the board, is convinced that high alcohol consumption among young people is linked to the marketing.
But its chairperson Camilla Hersom was not convinced that much could be done beyond criticising the responsible companies in the media and involving the ombudsman. She stressed that not all of the manufacturers would allow themselves to be intimidated by sanctions.
Cult Energy - the self-proclaimed "naughty boy in the class" when it comes to advertising, which is known for its raunchy billboards and ‘cult girls’ aged 18-23 advertising at concerts and nightclubs - has stated that it does not intend to follow these new guidelines.
"We follow the law, not the guidelines, and we have no intention of changing our marketing strategies. With these new guidelines, it would be entirely impossible to market any of our products," said Brian Sørensen, the founder and chairman of Cult Energy.
Cult Energy is not a member of any of the trade associations within the Alcohol Advertising Board, and this makes it more difficult for the board to pressure the company into following the guidelines.
The Copenhagen Post
