GALA Gazette: Will Television Alcohol Advertising Become a Thing of the Past?

ASIA PACIFIC: NEW ZEALAND

Will Television Alcohol Advertising Become a Thing of the Past?
Author: Erich Bachmann, Hesketh Henry

A controversial bill with the potential to derail prime-time liquor advertising is currently being considered by the New Zealand Parliament.

The Sale of Liquor Youth Alcohol Harm Reduction Bill (“Bill”) proposes to amend the 1989 New Zealand Sale of Liquor Act by restricting broadcasting of liquor advertising programs to airing only after 10:00 pm on any day.

Currently liquor advertising is permitted between 8:30 pm and 6:00 am and is monitored by the Advertising Standards Authority, a self-regulating body. The Bill proposes to reduce the period in which liquor advertising is permitted from nine and a half hours per day to two hours per day from 10:00 pm until midnight. The Bill also proposes to give the Broadcasting Standards Authority, a statutory body, sole jurisdiction over all matters that may arise in relation to any liquor advertising program. The Bill affects television advertising only and does not affect other media such as newspapers, billboards and flyers.

Nevertheless, liquor and advertising industry representatives argue that banning television alcohol advertisements before 10:00 pm would be a "draconian" step as there is no evidence linking advertising with increased liquor consumption and that advertising merely influences people to choose one brand over another when they do drink.

The Bill, which is currently before New Zealand Parliament if passed could end all television alcohol advertising in New Zealand which has already been in decline in recent years as liquor companies have increasingly focused more on new media that is not as heavily regulated.