Menu
Mark Borkowski.
Mark My Words
  • Blog
  • About
  • Talks
  • Press
  • Books
  • Social
  • Archive
  • Contact
Close Menu
June 2, 2010

Advertising and Prohibition

There’s growing concern, and a fair amount of hand wringing, about alcohol advertising and the possibility of banning it. It looks like the glory days of inventive, witty and satirical booze advertising may be over for good. This would be very, very sad. Ban them and yes, you’ll get column inches. Keep them and you’ll bring thousands of people joy.

There have been some hugely influential, wonderful and funny booze adverts over the years – just think of the often-surreal Guinness campaigns, or of Carling and Heineken’s best efforts. It would be a terrible shame to lose these creative campaigns and some of the minds behind them to a health and safety-regulated puritanical streak.

It seems to me that the campaign to ban the booze ads is little more than a PR exercise designed to sidestep the sort of potential legal claims that the tobacco industry have been dealing with. There are better ways of reducing binge drinking – heavy fines and policemen empowered to breathalyse people whether they are driving or not would be a start, as would fixing the price of alcohol in the supermarkets. If a drunken lout is arrested and is found to be over the limit apply heavy penalties and heavy fines of £1000 and more. This should apply equally to people driving home from the pub after a few too many, whether they’ve hurt someone or not.

But banning the advertising would a terrible shame – the effects of the adverts are often as pleasurable than the drink they’re selling. Good advertising is something to enjoy, in much the same way as a fine wine, a good whisky, a chilled lager or a well kept ale; sparingly. Everything in moderation – including booze advertising!

Related Posts

Mark Comments, Uncategorized

Circus showman Gerry Cottle dies with coronavirus aged 75

Mark Comments, Uncategorized

STRIKE A POSE Catwalk Queen Kate Moss has £12m in bank after being top of her game for years

Mark My Words

Depp in deep

Recent Posts

  • Circus showman Gerry Cottle dies with coronavirus aged 75
  • The winners and losers of Megxit: One year on from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell announcement, how the Duke’s old school pals and the Queen have lost out while Oprah and even Joe Biden have benefitted
  • Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hired ex-Palace aids despite ‘vipers’ claim
  • ‘I am my mother’s son’: Harry uses a photo of Diana and vows to ‘unleash the power of compassion’ with Meghan on new website for foundation that reveals partnerships with Stanford ‘centre for altruism research’ and ‘humane technology’ charity
  • Archie’s first podcast: Meghan and Harry feature 19-month-old son in star-studded first Spotify episode and coax him into wishing listeners a Happy New Year in his American accent

Previous posts

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

Archives

Back To Top
Mark Borkowski.
  • Blog
  • About
  • Talks
  • Press
  • Books
  • Social
  • Archive
  • Contact
© Mark Borkowski. 2021
Mark My Words
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram