TOPIC:

Sounds like a good plan TBN, especially considering your familiarity with Justice (and close advisors).

There's certainly no such thing as a quick fix, and as for banning advertisements, I actually think some ads put people off drinking. Those awful Harp ads come to mind! <!-- s:P --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt="" title="Razz" /><!-- s:P -->

I was getting at this in a earlier post. If we don't make an effort, nobody else will. A well reasoned submission sounds like a good idea.

As for the advertising ban, I find it hard to see downsides to it because the generic advert for a brand of beer has nothing to do with informing the public about beer, it merely attempts to asscoiate desirable lifestyle choices with it, so little would be lost.

Also, the advertising budgets of the big boys is so stupendously large compared to craft producers that smaller brewers are unable to compete on any level. We could hope that a ban would level the playing field somewhat, and allow consumers to make more informed choices based on beer quality rather than the image or lifestyle that particular brewers want associated with their beer.

Go for it, the points made on this board are all relevant and well written


(Well most of them <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> )

Grand. I'll attempt a jigsaw job from stuff already on here, and post the result for obs. For the record, my efforts will be aided by Paradox and Rip Tide from Brew Dog[/url:roomp8dy].

Personally I wouldn't be in favour of an advertising ban. I'm against any of the bullshit tweaks or half-arsed reforms that are supposedly a panacea for all the ills to society caused by alcohol, an advertising ban would just be another one of these.

Here it is put very succinctly:

&amp;quot;sbillings&amp;quot;:1onf9dfg wrote: The more I look into this sort of thing, the more I come to believe that any interference with the natural ebb and flow of the free market, beyond the most basic legal protections for consumers and businesses, causes more problems than it solves.[/quote:1onf9dfg]

I'd take the tack that excise duty increases simply don't work, and they have the knock on effects of punishing the vast majority of ordinary drinkers who are just out for a quiet pint and a chat.

Similarly, a ban on below cost selling isn't the answer, it's basically unsustainable in anything other than the short term and is, once again, a punishment for the ordinary drinker who's looking for a bargain.

Restricting the number of outlets is also a pointless exercise, unless you restrict the number of outlets until, in order to buy a bottle of beer you're faced with a similar experience to the Russian food queues of the 90's, then that'll put some people off Otherwise, you can just go to the next offie up the road who be more than happy to sell you the same beer. It's once again an exercise in discommoding the ordinary drinker and rewarding one outlet over another.

The most important point to ICB members should be that the current licensing arrangement restricts choice and discourages innovation. What's the point in getting in a craft brew in on tap when you can sell the same old Guinness and Bud, since there's no danger of the lad down the road doing it as there's a cartel in operation.

Finally, the obvious point should be made that, restricting supply, restricting opening hours, and punitive taxes have all been tried before many, many times and have consistently failed. It really shouldn't be tried once more.

If you wanted to save yourself a bit of time just copy and paste this and put an ICB header on it:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.tca.ie/controls/getimage.ashx?image_id=800">www.tca.ie/controls/getimage.ashx?image_id=800

I don't think that an advertising ban would be a panacea, but I think it would help reduce the extent to which people will automatically choose to go drinking rather than do something else. That said, I think advertising at point of sale is fair and I don't think we should go the way of Norway, with a ban on beermats, for instance.

&amp;quot;The Competition Authority&amp;quot;:36nozg1l wrote: the Authority recommends:
iii. That direct taxation should be used to influence the price of alcohol. To the extent that the trend of increasing average alcohol consumption is a social problem and that consumption is price-sensitive, tax rates should be raised.[/quote:36nozg1l]
That's a false assumption, isn't it?