Alcohol Marketing and Children
On the 30th March 2011, the Alcohol Marketing Bill, which was proposed by MP, Dr Sarah Wollaston, had its first reading at the House of Commons. It was introduced under the Ten Minute Rule and is, what is known as, a Private Member’s Bill.
This Bill looks at alcohol marketing, the ways in which it has an influence over the drinking habits of young people and the methods to take to reduce these effects. For example, the Bill will look at the potential banning of alcohol promotion before 9pm, and the ways in which the Internet disguises alcohol advertising, in an attempt to try and reduce the impact of alcohol marketing on the alcohol patterns of young people.
There is growing concern over the figures regarding the impact of alcohol on young people, and alcohol marketing is seen by some as playing a role in these statistics. The Department of Health released figures showing that females have the highest alcohol dependency within the age group 16-24, and there is still a worryingly high number of hospital admissions for young people, due to alcohol. Reports from 2008 suggest that there were 2843 fatalities in those aged between 15-24, and 23% of these were related to alcohol.
The second reading for the Alcohol Marketing Bill is due to take place on the 9th September 2011, and the outcome of this will be released in due course, thereafter.
If you are a young person who is worried about the effects of your alcohol intake, or a parent who is concerned about the drinking habits of your son/daughter, you may want to look into hypnotherapy as a ways of dealing with these issues. To find out more about how it could help you, please visit our fact sheet for further information.
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