Children and young people have a right to a childhood free from alcohol marketing

Alcohol is highly visible in our everyday lives – from adverts on trains and buses to logos on the shirts of our favourite football teams and displays in shops designed to grab our attention – and billions of pounds are spent every year on marketing these products. However, young people are particularly susceptible to alcohol marketing. Research has shown that it is a cause of youth drinking, leading children and young people to start drinking earlier, to drink more, and to drink at problematic levels.

Children and young people have told us they are aware of alcohol brands and marketing in their daily lives:

“there are bus stops I walk past like every day that always have those adverts usually like beer or sometimes like gin and vodka brands”

“I personally wouldn’t pay much attention to the adverts, but I could probably name half the alcohol brands that are on the TV anyway off the top of my head. You take it in even if you think you’re not paying attention.”

Perhaps most importantly, though, alcohol marketing restrictions would help Scotland meet its international human rights obligations, especially now that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has been incorporated into Scots law. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has specifically warned that the marketing of alcohol to children can have a long-term impact on their health, affecting their right to life, survival and development. The Scottish Government has a duty to uphold every child’s right to the highest attainable standard of health. Protecting children and young people from alcohol marketing is a vital part of fulfilling that duty.

Working with children and young people and amplifying their voices, which often go unheard in discussions about the impact of alcohol, is paramount to our campaign. Youth engagement projects, such as that conducted by Children in Scotland, have highlighted the need for restrictions and how children and young people themselves want alcohol to be less visible in their daily lives. This adds to views from the Young Scot Health Panel of children and young people aged 14-25 years in 2020, and members of Scotland’s Children’s Parliament (aged 9-11) in 2019.

At Alcohol Focus Scotland, we have worked with over 200 children and young people over the past few years, creating an animation to represent their views and incorporating these into our submission to the first alcohol marketing consultation. We will continue this work as we call for the Scottish Government to put children’s rights above industry profit and bring forward restrictions as soon as possible.

That’s why Alcohol Focus Scotland has joined forces with Children in Scotland, BMA Scotland, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD), and Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) in a mission to end the harmful impacts of alcohol marketing on children and young people in Scotland. So far, more than 60 organisations have signed up to support our Alcohol-Free Childhood campaign and agree that “alcohol marketing has no place in childhood. All children have the right to play, learn and socialise in places that are healthy and safe, protected from exposure to alcohol marketing.”  

The campaign secured a consultation on potential alcohol marketing restrictions to protect children and young people. The consultation responses highlighted a divergence of views – alcohol industry groups, and those they sponsor, largely favoured maintaining the status quo, while health and wellbeing organisations argued for comprehensive protections for children, people in recovery, and the wider population. 

A second consultation was promised towards the end of the last parliamentary session to consider more specific proposals, but that never took place. Instead, Public Health Scotland was asked to conduct an evidence review, which concluded that alcohol marketing is pervasive, persuasive, and contributes to alcohol‑related harm — including among children and young people. 

As the new intake of MSPs take their seats in parliament, now is the time to take this vital step towards reducing alcohol harm. We are calling on the new Scottish Government to act within the full scope of its devolved powers and implement restrictions on alcohol marketing – including on outdoor and public space advertising; sports and event sponsorship; and the display of alcohol in shops. 

The Alcohol Marketing Expert Network’s report ‘Realising our Rights: How to protect people from alcohol marketing’ set out how the current model of self-regulation is failing to protect children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. Compiled by international experts on alcohol policy, the report concluded that the Scottish Government must learn from the experiences of other countries and introduce a comprehensive set of restrictions. Scotland risks falling behind the curve when many of our European neighbours have already acted, including Ireland which introduced restrictions as part of the comprehensive measures set out in their Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, many of which have the specific objective of protecting children and young people. 

International public health experts, civic society organisations, policymakers and children and young people themselves are aligned in this call to action to protect younger generations from the harmful effects of alcohol marketing. It’s time that we saw this support translate into tangible action and change. 

To make this happen, we need your help!  

You can sign up to support the campaign by contacting amy.smith@alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk or by visiting the campaign page for more information. You can also help by sharing the campaign on social media and with your networks.