A total ban on alcohol advertising: Presenting the public health case

Alcohol and South Africa's Youth

“…Our Minister's stance is based on the reduction in smoking that followed the ban on tobacco advertising, 10 one of the principal aims of the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act of October 2000 having been to 'Reduce the pressure on young people to begin a lifelong (tobacco) addiction at age 15 and younger. ' In this issue of SAMJ, the public health case for the Minister's proposed ban is presented by Parry and colleagues, 11 who cite evidence that advertising sets out to deliberately target young people, while the early age at which our youth begin drinking, and the harms that ensue, are amply captured in the analysis by Ramsoomar and Morojele. 12 The Minister will hope to exploit the evidence 6 that delaying a young person's first drink will prevent development of harmful drinking habits.…”

Social aspects of alcohol consumption in Russia

“…To the Editor: South African readers of the SAMJ may be interested to know that some recently described features of alcohol consumption [1][2][3] appear too in parts of Russia, where there are similar factors that predispose to alcohol abuse: relative cheapness of alcoholic products, ease of access, boredom, unemployment, peer pressure, etc.…”

The Politics of Alcohol Policy in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis of How and Why Brewers Use Strategic Ambiguity to Supplant Policy Initiatives

“…This is a choice that the brewers who fund the campaigns make. In line with the WHO Global Status Report on non-communicable Disease 2010, South Africa has proposed a total ban of alcohol advertisement (Parry et al, 2012) in order to check alcohol problems in that country. This is not same with the Nigerian government and their agencies.…”