2015/05: Should alcohol sponsorship of sports and advertising during sports telecasts be phased out?





Introduction to the media issue

Video clip at right:
On September 15, 2013, ABC TV News presented a report on a study given exclusively to the ABC on the amount of alcohol advertising in the AFL and NRL finals. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.


What they said...
'Alcohol promotion during live sports broadcasts is a major cause for concern, particularly as children and young people form a large part of the cricket viewing audience'
Sondra Davoren, senior legal policy adviser for Cancer Council Victoria

'Alcohol marketing is used solely to drive brand choice, not motivate consumption by those who would otherwise abstain'
Brewers Association of Australia and New Zealand

The issue at a glance
On March 30, 2015, Channel Nine telecast Shane Warne interviewing members of the winning Australian Cricket team after the World Cup final against New Zealand. The interviews were criticised for their focus on how much beer the players were about to drink.
Cricket Australia's long-standing advertising and sponsorship arrangement with Victoria Bitter is a prominent part of the public debate around whether such sponsorship and advertising should be phased out.
In 2009 the National Preventative Health Task Force recommended the phasing out of alcohol sponsorship of sporting associations, clubs and fixtures and an end to the advertising of alcohol during live-to-air sports telecasts.
The bans were not implemented though many codes accepted federal funding as a substitute for their previous advertising and sponsorship arrangements with alcohol companies.
Key among those codes that continued their association with alcohol advertising and sponsorship are Cricket Australia, the AFL and the NRL.
In 2012, the AFL announced a 10-year extension to a major sponsorship deal with Carlton United Brewers. Cricket Australia has been sponsored by Victoria Bitter for years while the NRL has commercial partnerships with Fosters and Diageo, which makes Bundaberg Rum and Johnnie Walker.
Not only have the bans not occurred within the major codes, it is currently being proposed that alcohol advertising during live-to-air sports telecasts be extended to include all weekend sports telecasts, whether live-to-air or not, beginning on Friday evening. It is also being proposed that the 'adult' television viewing period be pushed forward by an hour to 7.30pm. This would allow an additional hour each night during which alcohol advertising could be telecast.
Health experts are concerned that rather than prohibiting the association of sport and alcohol, Australia is about to extend it.