Alcohol Marketing is a Cause of Underage Drinking

That the Parliament notes that new research published in a supplemental issue to the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs concludes that exposure to alcohol marketing is a cause of drinking onset and binge drinking among young people; understands that the researchers used the same methodology, the Bradford Hill criteria, as has been used to establish the causal relationship between tobacco and cancer; recognises that transnational alcohol corporations make huge investments in marketing on the basis of informed expectations of a significant return on investment; understands that alcohol companies have been found to target their marketing at young people; notes the evidence that young people may be particularly vulnerable because of their increased susceptibility to alcohol marketing and the disproportionate harm they experience from alcohol; believes that, given this causal relationship, statutory controls on alcohol marketing are required to reduce exposure to, and impact on, vulnerable populations, and welcomes the forthcoming consultation by the Scottish Government on a range of measures, including mandatory restrictions, to protect children and young people from alcohol marketing in Coatbridge and Chryston, and across Scotland.