Advertising Bans

flogen

New legislation will force shops to hide cigarettes from public view and ban any signs for brands within the shops. As far as I know the new law will also cover general ads for cigarettes, and so totally ban advertisements for the industry.

Do you think these measures will make a difference, and would you like to see it being rolled out to ban alcohol ads too?
Will it be pointless to ban TV/Mag ads for either if it is still legal in other Euro countries, especially the UK?

personally, I think the smoking sales restriction is simply a tie in with the smoking ban, making it more difficult for smokers. Its not stopping them from buying cigarettes, but its slowly pushing at the idea of it being unacceptable. I dont think it will make a huge difference, but I welcome it none the less.
I also think drink ads of all description should be banned, we are a nation known for our intake, and plethora of pubs, we dont need to be reminded about drink all the time, nor do we need any encouragment.

Flogen

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

flogen

that is true, if smoke, drink and fatty food ads were to be banned, RTE would be in trouble.

I dont think its legislating morality, its just the government are doing something (small, yes, but something) to deal with the problem. Smokers can smoke, but they have to go out of their way to do it, and alot of shops do have far too much smoking signs around the place. Removing them wont change public perception on smoking (if its cool or not etc) but its a start in making it more trouble than its worth (I can imagine buying cigarettes being on a par with buying porno soon...:D ).
As for drink, well as I said, Irish people dont need to be reminded about drink, they know enough about it as it is, and an ad wont change their mind on that.

Flogen

alleepally

Smoking is the easy target and fair enough. The regulations are a bit ridiculous though. I remember talking with a newsagent some time back and he said that if I went in and asked for 20 marlboro lights and he said they are out of stock, I couldn't what other 'light' brands he had in stock, nor could I see what brands were available.

Not that any smoker is going to think "what brand will i buy today" but it does seem a bit ridiculous.

Personally, I think drink is the bigger problem in Irish society. I don't have stats to hand or anything but a large percentage of street violence is due to alcohol. Every regional newspaper is full every week with court reports relating to drink incidents.

In pure economic terms I would suggest that drink costs this state far more than smoking. A&E full every weekend with drunks, street crime, court time, garda time, days lost due to hangover, impact on children and families, road deaths and accidents etc etc.

I know the argument isn't purely economic but in reality there is an economic reason why the drinks industry won't be demonised the way the tobacco industry is - namely sponsorship and a public that gets more exercised about the price of a pint than many more important issues.

flogen

I think that there are measures against drink coming in, but its not being targeted as heavily as smoking.

I think the argument they'd give you to justify this is that smoking causes illness to you and others no matter what, if I smoke, I can damage my health and most importantly others. Also cigarrettes seem to be more addictive, and because its so common it is much more inbedded into every day life, meaning there is more work to do. while drinking is a problem here, its not socially acceptable to take a 15 min break to go out for a quick shot or two as it is to go out for a smoke or two. Obviously, there is more chance of someone 'ingesting' alcohol of starting trouble or getting sick than those smoking, but they seem to over look this as its not a definite result of drinking.

There is only so much that can be done with alcohol without banning it, and there are new laws coming in to restrict ads and the way they aim towards being cool and hip etc.

Maybe they should put the bar taps underneath the counter

Flogen