Why now after all these years?!
The Health department is drafting a bill regarding alcohol advertising in South Africa. The spokesperson of the Department of Health Fidel Hadebe said that the Control of Marketing of Alcoholic Beverages Bill will go through various stages of consultation before it is released for public comment, this in turn will prohibit the advertising and promotion of alcohol products. The government task team is now reworking the bill behind closed doors.
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| The banning of alcohol adverts-a serious issue. Source:knowledgebase-script.com |
The drafting of this legislation to curb advertisements and marketing of alcohol comes after the health ministry sees alcohol as a contributing factor to highway deaths and a murder rate that is one of the highest in the world outside of a war zone.
This is a downturn for media companies as it raises a concern of a loss of revenueof as much as R1.8 million a year. The study, based on interviews by Moerdyk with media houses, found that:
- The ban would cost the SABC about R400-million;
- DStv and e.tv would lose R500-million;
- Radio, lifestyle magazinesand newspapers would lose R900-million;
- A "conservative" estimate was that about 2500 jobs would be lost, depriving about 30000 people of an income;
- Loss in VAT of about R280-million
- The ban would lead to a short-term drop in branded liquor consumption of 5% to 8%
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| A caution image against alcohol. Source:m-a-d-d.wikispaces.com |
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| Youngsters enjoying a sip. Source: trendgeeks.com |
But the question in my mind and I think on everybody's mind is that, why now after so many years? and will this bring about the change they are expecting in our roads and what about the prohibition of persons under the age of 18 who are allowed to consume alcohol without the concern of legislature? Lets debate people shall we...
i really think they are wasting time and money, i read last year an article where the minister of health was adressing this situation, where he said that he will be personally taking R500 million fronm the health budget just to personal give to the SABC for the money they will be losing from the adverts from SAB, which is really stupid , they can use that money to help many public hospitals and clinics that are a total mess, and its too late for that, interesting topic
ReplyDeletewhen it comes to alcohol, I personally don't believe that people will stop drinking due to adds on alcohol being banned. people know where to buy alcohol and they will continue drinking, advertisments or not.
ReplyDelete@Mr Gavinko that is so true hey. setting aside money to assist the SABC?! That is so uncalled for,a budget should be set aside for poverty eradication and service delivery not adverts. I also agree with you when you say it is too late to stop these adverts now i mean everybody is clued up about alcohol and where to get it especially youngsters
ReplyDelete@beautifufz good point there,these adverts have been going on for years and when they advertise them they make it seem cool to drink alcohol and as for young people it has become a trend to drink alcohol. it is really too late to ban these adverts now,way too late
ReplyDeletethe is a difference between alcohol abuse and consuming alcohol, there is no point of banning alochol ads because of people who abuse alcohol, ads are there for various reasons but i do not think promoting alcohol abuse is one of the reason..Why ban them?
ReplyDelete@Kgauhelo the main reason they want to ban the ads is because they want to prevent alcohol abuse from happening any longer,yes not everyone is an alcoholic but majority is and its affecting our roads hence there are a lot of accidents that happen due to people who drink and drive but i also agree with you, banning the ads isn't going to make much of a difference because people know where to go when they want alcohol but it will definetely in a way decrease a number of alcohol related mishaps that are caused by alcohol i believe
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