A ban on alcohol advertising?

The world gives little thought to Belgium. But it should. Chronic bickering between Flemings and Walloons since the general election in June 2010 has left a caretaker government in office for 230 days …

… and counting. That’s a European record. At the end of January 2011 Belgium is on course to beat Iraq’s 289 days without a government. Perhaps it’s no surprise that some political groups are trying to use their country’s political inertia for their own purposes. On 26 January, the Walloon parliament passed a resolution aimed at preventing binge drinking among the young, which called amongst other things for a ban on alcohol advertising in Wallonia.

The resolution had been initiated by the Humanist Democratic Centre (cdH), a francophone Christian democratic political party in Wallonia. Although such a ban would need to be voted on by Belgium’s federal parliament, where it may fail to garner enough support, Belgium’s brewers should still take the resolution seriously. After all, post-election jockeying is pre-election grandstanding. In the end Belgium’s political bruisers from all parties may just agree that it’s better to be seen to be doing something – clamping down on beer – than not doing anything at all.

The timing is interesting. Just days after the British government introduced a minimum price for alcohol a Belgian splinter party calls for a ban on advertising. The arguments are uncannily similar. Both measures are to prevent binge drinking among the very young.

There is no denying that the young all over Europe have become more curious and reckless in recent decades as they experiment with alcohol and illicit drugs, often at the same time.

While we at BRAUWELT International have failed to find hard data for Belgium, figures released by the German Office for Statistics on 28 January 2011 show that hospital admissions for alcohol poisoning have risen significantly between 2000 and 2009 among those aged 10 to 19. However, hospital admissions for the very young (10 to 14 years) were down 4 percent in 2009 from 2008.

The German addiction watchdogs commented on the figures by saying that prevention measures coupled with a ban on after-hour sales of alcohol at petrol stations have contributed to the drop in hospital admissions. The watchdogs also said that these days youngsters imbibed dangerous amounts of spirits rather than beer or alcopops.

Evidence from neighbouring Germany should have persuaded Belgian politicians to focus on prevention rather than push for a ban on advertising. Likewise, limiting youngsters’ access to spirits and stopping “all-you-can-drink” events at bars and cafés might have proven more effective in the long-run.

But, as said, pre-election campaigns may have already started in Belgium.

The Brewers of Belgium immediately criticized the resolution. Unfortunately no word has come from big brewers AB-InBev and Alken-Maes (Heineken) to date.

Many privately-owned Belgian brewers, several of which are based in Wallonia, would be hit hard by a ban on advertising. How could they rightfully promote their beers if faced with a ban? How could they survive in such a highly competitive beer market, whose consumption levels have been declining for 20 years?

Belgium’s brewers would be ill-advised to ignore the political initiative by the cdH as it could gather momentum. Before they even know, they could have a full-blown alcohol debate dominating their next election campaign.

Not good for a country that markets its beers under the “Belgian Beer Paradise” tagline.