Drinkaware.ie is a charade

OK first up just in case anyone wasn't 'aware' of the fact drinkaware.ie is a website that many may have believed was an independent (or government) funded information website on the subject of alcohol consumption. However it's entirely funded by the alcoholic drinks industry in this country.

It's basically a marketing ploy that the drinks industry can point to whenever they're accused of having an adverse affect on he health of this country. If there was a slogan to describe the tone of their website and TV ads then it'd be something like "Drinking is great craic. Drinking a lash of pints is totally normal...oh yeah but don't drink too much "

The website includes sections on "Low alcoholic cocktail recipes", "The secret to sobering up", "The 'why' and 'how' of pacing" and "The morning after -Time is the Only Cure". Nowhere does it mention the number of deaths in Ireland from alcohol-related diseases every year, the effect of alcohol abuse on A&E rooms around the country every week-end or how some individuals end up becoming alcoholics. The whole website is basically a watered down version of a real independent information website.

Imagine for a second if, instead of all of the stark factual warnings on cigarette boxes like "Smoking causes cancer" we instead had messages that read "Smoking may give you unpleasant breath" or "Falling asleep whilst smoking may lead to house fires". That's essentially the equivalent of the waning messages that drinkaware.ie is putting out.

Look I don't expect the drinks industry to damage their brand by choice by revealing the true dangers of consuming their product. However, surely we can bring in some sort of regulations that require them to reference a government supported website at the end of their commercials rather than their own creation. Drinkaware.ie is masquerading as a website with the people's best interests at heart rather than the drinks industry's.