MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday 20 September 2006

Alcohol Marketing on the agenda

Two international experts will join a strong line up of local experts to discuss issues concerning alcohol marketing at events over the next two days.

Rebecca Williams the director of Alcohol Healthwatch, hosts of the “Alcohol Marketing – Beyond the glamour, fun and sex” symposiums on Thursday and Friday this week, says that the events are aimed at stimulating and broadening the debate on alcohol marketing and the impact it has on our drinking culture.

Williams says the government have entered a process of review of the issue and it is important that the process is robust so that informed decisions can be made as a result. We want to encourage people to further understand about the issues and participate in the review process.

She believes many people will be shocked to hear the extent to which young people are exposed to alcohol marketing and the influence it is having on their drinking choices and behaviours. If New Zealanders knew this I’m sure that they would be keen to see this exposure controlled, she says. The symposiums will present the latest evidence and thinking from internationally renowned researchers.

International key note speakers at the symposiums are Dr David Jernigan from the United States and Associate Professor Sandra Jones from Australia. They will be joined by New Zealand experts including Professor Sally Casswell and Dr Linda Hill.

The symposiums will be held in Auckland on Thursday 21 September at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health Tamaki Campus and at The Terrace Conference Centre in Wellington on Friday 22 September.

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See www.ahw.co.nz for details of the “Alcohol Marketing – Beyond the glamour, fun and sex” – Symposiums

Action on Liquor Campaign information and briefing papers (including one on Alcohol Advertising and an additional update on alcohol marketing) can be found at www.ahw.co.nz

Speaker Profiles

Dr David Jernigan:
Research Associate Professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and Executive Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (www.camy.org). David has worked as an advisor to the World Health Organisation and the World Bank on alcohol issues. He was principal author of the World Health Organisation's recent Global Status Report on Alcohol and Global Status Report on Alcohol and Youth, and co-authored Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention, and Alcohol in the Developing World: A Public Health Perspective, published by WHO and the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. He has also authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and trained thousands of public health advocates in media advocacy and alcohol problems prevention.

Associate Professor Sandra Jones:
Director of the Centre for Health Behaviour and Communication Research, University of Wollongong. Sandra has authored several studies on the effectiveness of self-regulation of alcohol advertising in Australia.

Professor Sally Casswell:
Professor of Social and Health Research and the Director of the Centre for Social and Health Outcome Research and Evaluation at Massey University. Sally is Chair of the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Policy Strategy Advisory Committee. She has carried out research and on the development and implementation of healthy public policy at the national and community level and in the evaluation of these initiatives. This has included work in the development and evaluation of mass media campaigns designed for health promotion purposes, and research on commercial marketing of alcohol products.

Dr Linda Hill:
Social policy researcher who has worked extensively in the alcohol field for organisations which include the New Zealand Drug Foundation and the Alcohol and Public Health Research Unit.

ENDS

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