Beware the neo-prohibitionists

Germany | After years of sometimes acrimonious debate, the German parliament, on 4 July 2020, further restricted tobacco advertising. As of 2022, outdoor advertising will be “verboten”. The ban will be extended to vapes and e-cigarettes in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Germany was the only country in the EU which had not yet fully clamped down on outdoor advertising of tobacco.

Now, many observers worry that politicians’ desire to ban all kinds of things that are naughty could soon include advertising for confectionary and alcohol.

Already, Germany’s minister for agriculture, Julia Klöckner, from the centre-right CDU party is mulling a ban on advertising for promo offers of meat, preferably even discounted food as such.

Considering that after next year’s general election any coalition government will include the Green Party, which has already expressed its wish to head the ministry of agriculture, a crack-down on alcohol advertising could happen sooner than many think.