The ARA’s mission is to reduce alcohol-related harm through combating the misuse and abuse of alcohol beverages and promoting only their responsible use.
Ara in line with global strategy on responsible alcohol use
Aligning with the upcoming World Health Organisation global strategy to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol use, the Industry Association of Alcohol Use has announced the launch of a new advertising campaign, backed up by a R9 million launch budget, aimed at educating parents on the impact of their drinking behaviour on their children (view tv ads).
Members of the association comprise key players in the liquor industry including SA Breweries, brandhouse and Distell.
The Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO) plans to submit the draft global strategy to the World Health Assembly in early 2010. The strategy’s objective is to use all available evidence and existing best practices in order to develop a set of recommended measures for countries around the world to implement, taking into account the individual circumstances of each country.
For South Africa, the harmful effects of alcohol include underage drinking, drinking and driving, abuse and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). For the Industry Association of Alcohol Use (ARA) and its members, the development of this WHO global strategy is not going to be a new direction for the local market, but rather a continuation and extension of what the industry has worked hard to do for more than 20 years.
“It is important to resist the temptation to try and find simple solutions to the complex problems of alcohol misuse and abuse. The ARA firmly believes that no single action is likely to reduce the problems, but rather a mix of self-regulation, enforcement of existing laws governing sale and consumption, awareness creation and targeted interventions combined with individuals taking personal responsibility for their drinking choices is the most appropriate approach,” said Adrian Botha, spokesperson for the ARA.
For the ARA, the focus areas are self-regulation by member companies and industry stakeholders, partnerships with government, public health bodies and other related organisations and education related to the risks of alcohol misuse and the responsible use of alcohol beverages.
“Our research has indicated that whilst teenagers don’t like to admit it, they really do care what their parents think and are strongly influenced by their parents’ behaviour.
As a result of the outcome of this research, many of our recent initiatives have focused on teenagers and parents, including the production of a Teenagers & Alcohol booklet as a practical guide aimed at encouraging parents to communicate with their children from an early age about the potential harms associated with underage drinking.”
Botha added that international research also shows the impact that parents have on whether or not the children drink before reaching the legal age and their drinking patterns after reaching the legal age, should they choose to drink. “The message to parents is, if you drink, do so responsibly and set an example. Be a role model for your children.” (View tv ads)
The launch of new ARA advertising campaign in November 2009 has a direct link to this message. "Previously many campaigns focused on the behavior of the teenager, but this time round the attention is on the parent and how their behavior influences their children," commented Botha.
Other recent examples of where the ARA has been involved on how to reduce the harmful effects
of alcohol include:
- Partnerships and financial contributions to non-profit organisations which have a complementary mission and objective to that of ARA and which are able to work directly in the communities, for example the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research (FARR), Northern Cape community organisations (local theatre groups, SANCA), University awareness programmes (Buddy Campaigns) and LifeTalk workshops at schools aimed at parents and educators;
- A previous ad campaign targeting teenagers with the message “Good idea Bad idea”;
- Teenagers & Alcohol booklet – a practical guideline for parents on how to communicate with their children about alcohol which was launched in 2008 and another simplified version developed in 2009;
- The LifeTalk Forum engaging with parents, educators and teenagers.
“As an industry body, we remain committed to reducing alcohol-related harm. Our objective is not just to shift attitudes, but to actually attempt to change behavior and thereby ensure only the responsible use of alcohol beverages by those who choose to consume them,” added Botha.