Only half of young drinkers remember seeing health messages on alcohol wrappers

According to a new study, only half of drinkers aged 11 to 19 remember having seen health messages or warnings about alcohol packaging – although they are a target market important for this information.

Published in the Journal of Public Health, research – conducted by the University of Stirling and the Cancer Research UK Cancer Research Center – has determined the extent to which UK knew product information, health messages or warnings. on alcohol packaging during the previous month.

The research team found that among those who identified themselves as "current drinkers", only half remembered having seen such information – and that this represented only one third of the age bracket, regardless of their current state of alcohol consumption.

This is the first study to examine the recall and recall of such messages to a large and demographically representative sample of young people from across the UK – and experts believe the results will support the design debate, the efficiency and regulation of alcohol labeling in the UK. .

Dr. Nathan Critchlow, Research Fellow at the Stirling Institute of Social Marketing (ISM), led the study. He said:

In the UK and around the world, there are many calls to increase the visibility, understanding and effectiveness of labeling on alcohol packaging. In particular, critics often point to the regulatory measures taken for nutrition labeling of food and beverages, or health warnings and messages on tobacco products, and ask why labeling of tobacco products is so important. Alcohol – which is self-regulated by the industry – is not so progressive.

The Scottish Government has also made the commitment, in its latest strategy, to consider mandatory labeling if the alcohol sector does not improve visibility and clarity by September 2019, while the Republic of Ireland was already planning to introduce similar legislation.

Our latest research provides a timely and unique insight that will help inform these debates. "

Dr. Critchlow conducted the study with colleagues from ISM, Dr. Crawford Moodie, Dr. Niamh Fitzgerald, Anne Marie MacKintosh and Daniel Jones, along with Chris Thomas, Jyotsna Vohra and Lucie Hooper, from Cancer Policy Research Center of Cancer Research UK.

The study used data from the 2017 Youth Survey on Alcohol Policies, a cross-sectional survey conducted by YouGov among young people aged 11 to 19 in the United Kingdom. Participants were asked if they had seen product information, health messages or warnings on alcohol packaging in the past month and, if so, what messages they had recalled. This age group is particularly important because exposure to clear and effective messages during their formative consumer experiences can have a lasting impact on the knowledge, attitudes and behavior related to it. alcohol.

"We have explored the knowledge of this information and the differences between population groups and the different levels of alcohol consumption, for example if a young person is currently drinking alcohol or not," explained Dr Critchlow.

"Only one-third of 11-to-19-year-olds have been reminded to have seen product information, health messages, or warnings about alcohol packaging over the past month, especially about half of current drinkers. were aware of these messages, although they are an important target market for these products.

"The recall of specific messages was also low, almost half of the youth did not know what messages they had seen and most of the specific messages were only recalled by a minority of young people. alcohol consumption, health effects or alcohol product subject to an age limit. "
Dr. Jyotsna Vohra, co-author of Cancer Research UK, responsible for cancer policy research, said: "Besides the fact that children drink well, it is worrying that only half of they remember having seen important health warnings.These labels do not give all the information to the CMO [Chief Medical Officer] says they should, especially highlighting the risk between alcohol and cancer. Alcohol is badociated with seven types of cancer in adults and is responsible for more than 12,000 cases per year. Yet only one in ten is aware of this risk. "

"The more a person drinks, the higher his cancer risk is high.That's why it's important to do more to reduce alcohol consumption in the UK." All labels should also make it clear that people should not drink more than 14 units a week, all those who drink will continue to develop cancer, there is no harm in reducing their consumption. "