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Health Promotion International, Vol 12, 251-258, Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press
S Casswell
There are many and varied voices in the public discourse on alcohol: those
of the public health interests; those of the vested interest groups; and
those of the media themselves. The concerns of those in the field of public
health are to prevent any increase and, where possible, reduce the harms
which are experienced from alcohol use. Occupying a somewhat different
position in the public discourse are the voices of the distributors and
producers of alcohol. While there is some shared concern about the adverse
consequences of alcohol use, the primary interest of these groups is to
protect the return on the investment of their shareholders. Among those
with a stake in alcohol industry profits, there is a reluctance to accept
the use of public policies which have a direct impact on overall
consumption and drinking behaviour. The preference of the vested interest
groups is that the public discourse be aimed at informing and persuading
the individual drinker (and future drinker) to behave in a certain way.
These groups want the role of the public health interests to the use of
educational programmes, while at the same time utilising the mass media to
inform and persuade in the form of direct and indirect advertising
campaigns which promote the use of alcohol. Other aspects of the public
discourse on alcohol are disseminated in the entertainment, news and
editorial pages of newspapers and content of television programmes. Here
too there are conflicting messages about alcohol, with coverage of the
public health issues being juxtaposed alongside the perspectives of the
alcohol producers and distributors and other vested interest groups such as
the advertising industry. The media are key players in the public discourse
on alcohol. Alcohol policy issues have long been hotly contested and in the
1990s much of the debate is shaped by the portrayal of alcohol and alcohol
policy in the mass media. There has always been a considerable imbalance
between the resources available for the promotion of alcohol use and those
to moderate it, and it is concluded that access to the mass media by public
health voices is essential if public health goals are to be
achieved.Key words: alcohol industry; alcohol policy;
mass media; public discourse
ARTICLES
Debate. Public discourse on alcohol
Alcohol and Public Health Research Unit, University of Auckland, School of Medicine, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. E-mail: s.casswell@auckland.ac.nz
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