To advertise or not to advertise?
Will a ban on the advertisement of alcoholic beverages change our drinking habits for the better?
There are often huge outcries about the high levels of substance abuse in South Africa which is indeed the case. You merely have to wander the streets of communities to realise that substance abuse is rife in all communities. More so in the very poor areas where people do not have a vision of a better tomorrow. No work, no income and no prospects.
Now to come back to my introduction. Will a ban on the advertisement of alcohol products have a significant impact on the use, abuse and dependency on alcohol? A parliamentary committee now deliberates about the unintended consequences of a possible ban on alcohol products which is indicative of our dilemma. The loss of the income from advertisements may be more disastrous than the intended benefits we think we may derive from a ban on alcohol. We are indeed caught between a rock and a hard place. We find ourselves in the same spot with the proposed increase in the age from 18 to 21 to reduce the levels of abuse of alcohol. At the age of 18 a person has come of age – able to enter into contracts, drive a car and generally act as an adult, but not allowed to use alcohol. As with so many other pieces of legislation, the level of policing required to have the intended impact, will not take place.
We are often convinced that the introduction of a single strategy will have a significant impact on alcohol abuse. It may have an impact on the low risk alcohol user, but what if you are one of those who don’t have anything to lose? Will the absence of advertisements of alcohol products or an age limit deter them from using and abusing alcohol? Not likely!
We will have to be bold in large scale economic growth, job creation, quality education and modelling norms and values that will give people a vision of a better tomorrow! Even then we will still struggle with substance abuse, but possibly at much more “acceptable” levels. Such an intervention may also have the unintended consequence of lower crime levels and other social ills that is the consequence of substance abuse. Cosmetic surgery is not sufficient when a heart transplant is required.
G.H.J. Kruger
Director
Aurora Alcohol and Drug Centre
