Alcohol ad ban to impact ad revenue by Bt2bn annually

BANGKOK, Oct 14 (TNA) - Thailand's interim government plan to impose a complete ban on alcohol advertisements in all media will make a big dent on advertising revenue, cutting profits by an estimated Bt2 billion (over US$50 million) annually, according to Witawat Jayapani, president of the Advertising Association of Thailand.

Mr. Witawat said the ban on alcohol ads will also hurt local player competitiveness vis-a-vis foreign entrepreneurs because the government could not control foreign goods entering this country.

He urged the government to give more focus to the internet as well as SMS messaging which can easily reach young people but is difficult to control. Also, the new law should impose a severe punishment on drunken drivers.

Mongkol Na Songkhla, interim Public Health Minister, said earlier this week that he expected the new law could be announced within two weeks and would come into effect once it is published in the Royal Gazette.

Similar to an already instituted prohibition on cigarette and tobacco advertisements, the new ban would not permit ads for alcoholic beverages on television or radio, print media, or in posters and billboards.

Panya Pongthanya, general manager of Thai Asia Pacific Brewery, forecast that beer sales later this year will drop 5 to 10 per cent.

He said it would be the first time that beer sales would decline during beer festival which is organised every cold season in Thailand. No advertising, he said, makes it practically impossible for new brands to enter the Thai market.

Local brewers may also decide to divert their investments to overseas project, Mr. Panya said.

TNA

Phil, is the ban on alcohol purely down to health reasons, or is it religious as well? I an understand the smoking one, but most countries allow alcohol ads, though the companies here in the UK now have to stress in their ads that drinking needs to be done sensibly.

The wine world was in revolt last night, threatening to thwart government proposals to put health warnings on vintage bottles.

The Government is looking at ways of making the drinks industry label bottles and cans with details of the dangers of alcohol, in an effort to crack down on binge drinking.

Prized Château Mouton Rothschild would not escape the warning that drinking can seriously damage your health. But celebrity sommelier Matt Skinner dismissed the scheme as farcical. "It's ridiculous," he said. "Are they going to do the same thing with crisps or Coke? There are far worse offenders."

Mr Skinner, who works with Jamie Oliver in his Fifteen restaurants, said that drinking irresponsibly did damage health, but wondered whether the Government would also promote the health benefits of anti-oxidants found in red wine. He called for the Government to spend more on preventative alcohol misuse work in schools.

The wine writer and editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, Jancis Robinson, said a similar warning scheme had operated in America for nearly 20 years, with little success. "As with labels on cigarettes, people just get used to them after a month or so," she said.

Tony Havin, restaurant manager at Marco Pierre White's Mirabelle said: "It would be quite sacrilegious to do this to a fine bottle of wine because part of the pleasure is not just the drink in the bottle but the design of the label."

The Independent on Sunday's own Richard Ehrlich said it was just as possible to develop a drink problem with Dom Pérignon as it was from extra-strong lager. He added: "The Government has to get the wording right. I don't have much faith in its ability to do that."

Source:- Independent

Quote:Phil, is the ban on alcohol purely down to health reasons, or is it religious as well?

Probably more from a health point of view as drinking esp. Thai whisky is engrained in Thai rural society. I really think that they need to address drink driving as more of an urgency