asked the Minister for Health whether, in the light of the notoriously high incidence of alcoholism in this country and his expressed concern about it, he will request the sponsors (details supplied) to discontinue their highly publicised poster campaign, the general thesis of which may be interpreted to mean that a drinking family, including young adolescents, has a better life-style than a family with one drinker in it.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Poster Campaign.
3.
I do not accept the Deputy's interpretation of the poster and the conclusions he draws from it.
Would the Minister not accept that the clear message of this Guinness poster of parents, grandparents and children all drinking together, is that because one's parents drink, dutifully the children should join them and start drinking too, to be grown up? Is it not irresponsible and amoral——
I am quite willing to convey the Deputy's views to the advertising group responsible for maintaining the agreement I have with them. My view is, first of all, that those people are adults and I do not think they constitute a family group. There could be a difference of opinion about it.
Is it not a fact that the Minister's campaign against cigarette smoking is based on the idea that young people are influenced by what older people do? Is it not a fact that the Minister would not tolerate this kind of poster in relation to cigarettes?
As I have said, I do not think the figures in the poster are of young people. Again, there may be some question of a difference of opinion. Maybe it is controversial. I would say to the Deputy that I have been studying the whole problem of alcoholism with the Irish National Council for Alcoholism and I am preparing a paper the details of which will become available in the next month or so dealing with this problem. The social aspect is of much more importance than any argument of a controversial kind about a particular advertisement.
Is there not a code of conduct which these brewers purport to maintain and is not this poster in direct contradiction of the idea that young people should not be appealed to?
In a friendly spirit I disagree with the Deputy. I will send him the code in relation to alcoholic drinks and he can look into the matter further.