To the point: Game without borders
The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) is holding a national dialogue week on the topic of alcohol from May 21 to 29, 2011. The Federal Alcohol Administration (EAV), which fulfills a mandate related to both fiscal and health policy, is participating with three days of dialogue.
Three core topics of the ongoing total revision of the Alcohol Law were debated: Protection of minors, advertising regulations and trade regulations. I was allowed to moderate a roundtable discussion on the topic of advertising regulations. I went to Bern with a certain amount of skepticism because, firstly, any paternalism on the part of the state is deeply repugnant to me and, secondly, I am firmly convinced that advertising should also be permitted for a legal product.
As an introduction to the topic "Alcohol & Advertising - Is it allowed to show everything?", Werner Altwegg and Nicolas Rion from the SAB presented a most interesting cross-section of advertising for spirits before 1982 (without creative restrictions) and after 1982 with the well-known restrictions, according to which one is actually only allowed to show the product and its ingredients. Even taking into account that the 30 years naturally had an impact on the advertising style: The restrictions have clearly improved the creativity of spirits advertising.
The experts participating in the roundtable were: Michel Graf, Director of Sucht Info Schweiz; Andreas Affentranger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Distillerie Diwisa; Marc Schuhmacher, Account Planning Director of Contexta; and Sabine Schey, Managing Director of the LINK qualitative AG research institute. Contradictory votes were therefore to be expected. It quickly became clear that the question of how far spirits advertising can go is actually a marginal issue. Another point is much more important. Our state wants to regulate or restrict alcoholic beverage advertising and acts as if there were no foreign media, let alone an Internet and social media. So what good is it if something is regulated in our small country and everything comes in from outside that is forbidden. Nothing at all!
To this day, there is a difference in the regulation of wine or beer advertising and spirits advertising. Complete nonsense, because what someone gets high on doesn't matter. Only the quantity matters. Let no one come to me with the cultural significance of wine or beer, it's much simpler: the beer and wine producers simply have the better lobby in Bern. The conversation was exciting and worthwhile. Despite skepticism.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
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