Sex and booze don’t mix when it comes to advertising

8th December 2005

Leading alcohol charity calls for controversial ?ramsworld? advertisement to be withdrawn.

Alcohol Concern today pressed for the
withdrawal of an advert for Young?s bitter, on the grounds that it breaks the rules.

An advert recently displayed on billboards and on Young?s ?ramsworld? website, with the strapline ?are you ram enough??, plays on connotations of promiscuity and sexual success to promote the drink. The advert uses an image of a man with a ram?s head, eyeing a scantily-clad woman and surrounded by women in bikinis to make its point.

This contravenes the Advertising Standards Authority?s code that bans marketing that links alcohol with ?seduction, sexual activity or sexual success?, says Alcohol Concern. It also potentially falls foul of the drink trade?s Portman Group code of practice, which forbids advertising on a brand website that ?suggests any association with sexual success?, and most certainly breaks with the spirit of the code.

Alcohol Concern Chief Executive, Srabani Sen, commented: ?We have written to both the Portman Group and the Advertising Standards Authority to ask them to take action against this advert. It is unacceptable that a company thinks that it can use sexual innuendo as a legitimate means of selling alcoholic products.

?Given that the drinks industry launched their new code of standards just weeks ago, this shows that they really need to start putting their words into action. The fact that an advert like this was even released just goes to show that we need to find better ways of regulating the sale and promotion of alcohol than just leaving it up to the drinks trade. ?

ENDS


Notes to editors:

· Alcohol Concern have today complained to the Portman Group under section 3.2(d) of their Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks and to the Advertising Standards Authority under section 56.9 of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing.

· The Young?s advert can be found at http://www.ramsworld.co.uk.

· Alcohol Concern launched its ?Raising the Bar? charter last month, calling on the drinks industry to step up to the challenge of responsible practice. It can be accessed at http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/servlets/doc/1009.

· For all enquiries or to speak to Srabani Sen, please contact the Alcohol Concern Press Office on 020 7928 7377 or email press@alcoholconcern.org.uk. For out of hours press enquiries, please call 07866 063013.

Alcohol Concern is the national agency on alcohol misuse. We work to reduce the incidence and cost of alcohol-related harm and to increase the range and quality of services available to people with alcohol-related problems and their families.

Date: 08 December 2005