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Paul Williamson is from Deloitte »EVERY year we hear stories about the evils of alcohol, particularly its effect on young people. And, every time, the drinks industry is expected to shoulder the blame.
As Children’s Secretary Ed Balls revealed new plans that could see parents prosecuted if their kids drink in public, critics waded in to denounce retailers for encouraging binge drinking by selling cheap alcohol and advertising their products.
Why not just ban alcohol altogether and put the drinks industry - already wounded by soaring fuel costs and alcohol duties - out of its misery?
Surely, the whole point of being in business is to make money. How can this be achieved if retailers are instructed not to tempt consumers with attractive deals or market their ideas on billboards?
The industry is left with an unsolvable dilemma: how to price its products at market rate without being accused of corrupting our youth.
Some are calling for the industry to be more tightly regulated but research suggests that this is not needed. While binge drinking is still a problem, Government figures reveal that the number of 11 to 15-year-olds drinking regularly fell from more than one quarter in 2001 to about one fifth in 2006.
Businesses are already taking sensible steps to help combat the problem. Teesside bars and off licenses refuse to sell alcohol to customers who appear to be under 21 unless they can prove they are above the legal age.
But some expect far too much of the industry. A couple of years ago, for example, international solvents producers came under pressure to classify alcohol as a “dangerous� substance and emblazon a skull and cross-bones symbol across bottled beer. Effectively, this would effectively have bracketed Pilsner with pesticide. Thankfully, Brussels saw sense and opted not to jump on the campaign bandwagon.
It is not down to business to cure the ills of society, which cannot be remedied through heavy-handed regulation either. A combination of state education and parental persuasion is probably the best method of tackling binge drinking. But kids and young adults are savvy creatures and if they wish to drink to oblivion, they will.
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