DIGI welcomes Joint Committee report on Alcohol Sponsorship
Drinks Industry Ireland reviews the report and the drinks industry’s reaction to it.
Print30 August 2013
“We need a fresh approach” – DIGI Chairperson and Diageo’s European Corporate Relations Director Peter O’Brien.
The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland has welcomed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications’ recent publication of the Report on Sponsorship of Sports by the Alcohol Drinks Industry and has again called for the Government to engage with it to find evidence-based solutions to the challenge of alcohol misuse.
“We need a fresh approach,” was the simple comment from DIGI Chairperson and Diageo’s European Corporate Relations Director Peter O’Brien.
The Joint Committee recommended that sponsorship of sporting events by the drinks industry should remain in place until it can be replaced by other identifiable streams of comparable funding.
The report, by the committee of TDs and senators, stated that sporting associations would “suffer inordinately if legislation for such a prohibition was introduced”.
But it did recommend that a fixed percentage of all sponsorship received by each and every organisation (sporting, cultural, arts, music etc) from the alcohol drinks industry should be ring-fenced and paid into a central fund to be administered by an appropriate body. That fund should be used exclusively for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Programmes.
Recommendations
The report makes a number of additional recommendations:
* A Code of Practice for the consumption of alcohol within stadia should be drawn-up by all sporting organisations
* Sponsorship of sports and sporting events should be treated in the same way as sponsorship of the arts, music and other festivals
* A Code should be introduced to make it mandatory for all brand owners and rights-holders to provide responsible training in selling, advertising and marketing and to promote responsible drinking at all sponsored events
* All sporting organisations should be encouraged to support programmes which contribute to social inclusion in order to reduce the abuse of alcohol, particularly among young people
* A prohibition on sponsorship by the alcohol industry should only be considered if it is done on a pan-European basis in order to ensure that Irish sports and sporting organisations are not operating at a disadvantage relative to their international competitors.
Joint Oireachtas Committee view
“It was clear to the Committee that the sporting organisations were all cognisant of the dangers misuse of alcohol has for their members and that they are all very supportive of measures to counter those problems,” stated the report, “However, every sports organisation which presented to the Committee emphasised the importance of alcohol drinks industry sponsorship to participation rates and promotion of their sports.
“Similarly, all organisations were firmly of the view that if such sponsorship was discontinued it would be difficult to find replacement sponsors in the present economic climate…..It was also stated that without such sponsorship, organisations would find it extremely difficult to host major sports events in this country, from rugby to horse racing, which would, in turn, impact negatively on tourism revenue.
“The medical profession painted a stark picture of the debilitating and in many cases life-threatening effects of heavy consumption of alcohol. The profession argued that the association between alcohol and sport should be severed.”
However binge-drinking and the misuse of alcohol fell outside the brief of this Committee which could only examine the issue from the perspective of sponsorship of sporting events.
The general consensus was that while, in an ideal world, prohibiting the sponsorship of sports by alcohol drinks companies was a very worthwhile aspiration, the reality, particularly in the current economic climate, was that the main sporting organisations in this country, would suffer inordinately if legislation for such a prohibition was introduced, stated the report.
“The reality is that until such time as replacement funding streams can be identified, alternative sponsors would be difficult to find. If it was the case that funds raised through sponsorship were simply used to pay exorbitant salaries such as those paid to Premier League footballers in England, the Committee would fully support a phasing out of drinks sponsorship. However, the Committee learned that much of the sponsorship received is used by the sporting bodies to promote and increase participation rates.
“The Committee was very impressed by the GAA‘s Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Programme, an initiative which was supported by the HSE and one which might form the template for programmes which, we believe, should be considered by the other sporting bodies.
“A further difficulty would be the international aspect of telecommunications whereby ordinary citizens can access sporting events either on their televisions or increasingly on mobile devices. The availability of television and radio stations from our neighbouring island militates against the enactment of such a prohibition and points to other difficulties in its implementation.
“Acting unilaterally, Ireland would be at a significant competitive disadvantage to its international competitors. Similarly, the internet does not recognise international borders.”
Some Committee Members were firmly of the view that sponsorship by alcohol drinks companies should be phased out by 2016 as proposed in the Steering Group Report. However, the majority held the view that the link between sponsorship and the misuse of alcohol in society had not been established and for this and the other reasons outlined in the previous paragraphs, the Committee felt that banning sponsorship of sports by the alcohol industry is not merited at this time.
DIGI response
“We support the committee’s recommendation that a code be introduced to make it mandatory for all brand owners and rights-holders to provide responsible training in selling, advertising and marketing and to promote responsible drinking at all sponsored events,” agrees DIGI ChaIrman Peter O’Brien, “We welcome that the majority of the committee concurred that the link between sponsorship and the misuse of alcohol in society had not been established.
“The reality is that the misuse of alcohol is not in the interests of our industry or its sustainable development. It damages our members, it damages our brands and it damages the societies in which we operate.”
During submissions to the Committee, the DIGI had opposed what it termed “eye-catching but ineffectual bans” but had supported long-term educational measures.
The DIGI had also questioned the methodology for studies in Australia and New Zealand (mentioned in other presentations to the Committee) where free alcohol had been distributed at the events concerned.
Free alcohol is not distributed to participants in the events sponsored by alcohol companies in the Irish market.
An in-depth global survey of sponsorship activity carried out by IMR Sports Marketing and Sponsorship Intelligence of the UK found no connection between sponsorship and consumption levels.
Where bans have been introduced, such as the Loi Évin in France, there’s no evidence that they have had any effect in reducing misuse. In fact teenage drinking in France is actually increasing, contended the DIGI which also pointed out that a decision to phase out sponsorship over the medium- to long-term would see brands beginning to wind down their sponsorship activities with the consequent loss of millions of €uro in the short-term.
“The drinks sector is an important credible industry employing 62,000 people in this country. The tackling of alcohol misuse requires a fresh approach, one that brings all parties together and focuses on evidence-based solutions. Only by all stakeholders working together to find effective, evidence-based solutions to the problem of alcohol misuse can we hope to effectively address this challenge,” concluded Peter O’Brien.
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