Government ad drive aims to tackle binge drinking
Alison Bennett
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The government is to urge young people to stop binge drinking with the use of similar methods to anti-smoking adverts, with a campaign launching in the spring.
The Department of Health is believed to be targeting the ad campaign at 18- to 24-year-olds to show them how alcohol affects their bodies, alongside a wider public campaign on safe drinking levels.
A spokesman for the campaign said: "The government will be launching a new £10m communications campaign in the spring."
Dolores Crawford, alcohol policy and practice manager at addiction charity Addaction, welcomed the move. "We need a lot more information. A lot of young people are aware of the safe amount of units, but some store them up for the weekend," she said.
The news comes a week after social exclusion charity Positive Futures published a survey on binge drinking. It found almost half of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds had consumed alcohol before the age of 13.
