Review of the Television Without Frontiers Directive
2003
Introduction
We would like to thank DG Education and Culture for considering our comments on the Television Without Frontiers Directive (Dir 89/552/EEC as amended by Dir 97/36/EC) as part of the Review, provided for by Article 26 of the Directive.
The BMA has studied the Fourth Communication from the Commission (COM(2002)778) on the TWF Directive and the themes of the Review and would like to respond, particularly to themes 3 and 4.
Of most interest to us are; primarily, provisions for alcohol advertising, as well as food advertising for children including surreptitious advertising and product placement.
Alcohol advertising
Binge drinking in the UK:
The sheer volume of alcohol advertising on TV is overwhelming and continues to increase as competitors try to increase brand market share. In the UK, advertising expenditure on alcohol was some £227.5m in 2000 (Institute of Alcohol Studies).
Doctors have to cope with the effects of “binge drinking”, particularly among the young. There has been a four-fold increase in deaths from chronic liver disease among 25-34 year old men between 1970 and 2000. (Chief Medical Officer for England).
One in Six admissions to casualty are alcohol-related. A UK Cabinet Office study (19 September 2003) puts the cost of binge drinking to the health service at £1.2billion.
General Practitioners do not have enough resources to screen effectively heavy drinkers estimated to number 6million(not including “problem drinkers”), which in turn will add to future NHS costs.
Persistent use of images of “social and sexual success” in alcohol advertising, which Article 15 is supposed to prevent, in the UK fuels the phenomenon of binge drinking among the young. The effectiveness of applying Article 15 and self-regulation must be brought into question.
Community-Level Regulation
The 2001 Recommendation on Alcohol and Young People (2001/458) show that binge drinking among the young is on the increase in South Europe states also. This shows that the phenomenon is not defined purely by national cultures and that EU measures are required, especially as cross-border advertising increases with the development of the common broadcasting market.
Unless Article 15 is better applied, the WHO Ministerial Declaration on Young People and Alcohol (Stockholm February 2001) will not meet key targets in the delay in the onset of drinking and amount of high-risk drinking by young people and a reduction in advertising pressure on young people to drink.
It is hard to reconcile the fact that binge drinking is on the increase and that provisions on alcohol advertising vary so wildly between member states with the Commission’s assumption that Article 15 works effectively.
Recommendations on Article 15
- Article 15 provides the protection of minors but should be monitored and much better applied. We would welcome a study on its effective
- Article 15 should include restrictions on the amount of alcohol advertising to be allowed on TV as a proportion of total advertising.
- We would welcome an investigation into images of alcohol advertising across different member states and their codes of conduct.
- We would welcome an independent advisory expert group to resolve the differences in provisions covering alcohol advertising in all member states including the applicant countries. Half of the advisory group membership should drawn from the health profession.
Food advertising to children
Around 70% of children’s advertising is for food and foods high in fat, salt and sugar account for over half of all food advertisements.
Increasingly, we are seeing diet-induced risk factors such as high blood cholesterol levels, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and diabetes type 2 in obese children, when previously they were found only in adults
There are no detailed rules in Article 16 on “fatty foods”. The general reference in Article 12 to “behaviour prejudicial to health and safety” is obviously having very little effect.
Recommendation on Article 16:
- We would like to see Article 16 to be amended to include a general reference to the protection of the minor’s health and a ban on advertising “unhealthy food” during children’s TV
Surreptitious advertising; Alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy foods
The ban on surreptitious advertising (product placement) in Article 10(4) requires intent on behalf of the producer. This requirement makes it very difficult to enforce the ban since the onus is on the complaining viewer to prove the producer actively set out to place the product.
Recommendations;
- There should be better application of Article 10(4) and more responsibility placed on programme-makers not show, by way of product placement”, harmful products that are branded and in full view.
Fourth Report on the Application of the Television without Frontiers Directive
The Commission refers to a number of policies in connection with audio-visual policies. Protection of human health is not mentioned. We believe health should explicitly mentioned in the Ditrective’s recitals for the reasons given above. This would also be in line with the Treaty’s Article 152 which aims at mainstreaming health in all EU policies.