CAMPAIGNERS have called for alcohol sponsorship to be banned in Scottish sport as a study found drink advertising features every 15 seconds at some high-level fixtures.
University researchers examined the official sponsors or partners of football and rugby teams in Scotland, including the top two SPFL divisions and both professional rugby union teams, as well as the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Rugby.
They found alcohol companies represented 7% of the main sponsors or partners in 2018-19 – 15% in rugby union and 4% in football.
The University of Stirling study found that, where present, alcohol sponsorship “uses a variety of marketing activities to ensure that it is highly visible and appears salient to consumers”.
These include kit logos, stadium advertising, limited-edition products and players featuring in marketing content. The academics also analysed the frequency of alcohol marketing in seven sports broadcasts in 2018-19.
On average, an alcohol reference featured around once every 15 seconds in the Six Nations match between Scotland and England.
For Scottish Premiership football highlights, it happened every 57 seconds on average, rising to 71 seconds in the Scottish Cup final and 98 seconds in a league match.
Researchers said they attempted to analyse the alcohol marketing references in a game between Scotland’s two professional rugby teams – Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby – but were unable to do so due to the high volume.
Charity Alcohol Focus Scotland and public health experts from Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (Shaap) want the Scottish Government to ban alcohol sponsorship from sport.
Alison Douglas, Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive, said: “Sport should be clean – it should inspire good health and active participation – and to use it as a promotional vehicle for an addictive and health-harming product is simply unacceptable. The current system of self-regulation is no regulation.”
Shaap director Dr Eric Carlin called on clubs to follow the lead of Scottish women’s football in rejecting alcohol and gambling sponsorship.
Scottish Government Public Health Sports Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: “I want to go further to protect our children and young people from alcohol harms and that is why I intend this year to consult on potential mandatory restrictions on alcohol marketing and advertising.”
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