Alcohol-ad Ban Toned Down

[george]

Alcohol-Ad Ban Toned Down

BANGKOK: -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday radically toned down its "total ban" on alcohol advertising by permitting 24-hour corporate-image TV commercials that carry the name of alcohol companies without showing its brand, logo and alcoholic-beverage products.

The agency said some exceptions were essential to give the alcohol industry more room to manoeuvre.

Apart from the initial exemption for foreign live telecasts and imported newspapers and magazines, the new rules include any form of advertising, both on TV and local print media, that does not carry the alcoholic products, their brand name and logo.

The name of an alcohol company is allowed to appear as a sponsor of a TV programme without time restriction as long as it is not the same name as the alcohol product, said Manit Arunaku, the acting secretarygeneral of the FDA.

If an alcohol company makes other products, such as drinking water, and uses the same logo, advertising for the nonalcohol product is allowed only if the logo comes in a different colour, he said.

-- The Nation 2006-10-26

[jdinasia]

They are gonna have to allow the logo too

[isaanbrit]

Sound like the people who stood to loose the most from this have some how managed to get their way. I wonder how much is has cost them and what exactly they have managed to offer them ???

[Neeranam]

The name of an alcohol company is allowed to appear as a sponsor of a TV programme without time restriction as long as it is not the same name as the alcohol product, said Manit Arunaku, the acting secretarygeneral of the FDA.

I'm confused - will 'Chang' for example, be able to sponsor a tv programe because their product is Chang Beer, or Chang Soda.

It's a pity they toned it down - alcohol kills many every day here.

[farangconnection]

So the " Johnnie Walker Classic" will now be known as the Scotch Classic. You'll have all the Thai golfers turning up at St Andrews.

[kmart]

Sound like the people who stood to loose the most from this have some how managed to get their way. I wonder how much is has cost them and what exactly they have managed to offer them ???

Another well-thought out plan of practical common sense.

The liquor tycoon Mr Charoen is now Thailand's richest man(?), so he won't have any influence at all regarding this palaver then?

[Old Man River]

Sound like the people who stood to loose the most from this have some how managed to get their way. I wonder how much is has cost them and what exactly they have managed to offer them ???

This government will not be involved in corruption.

It was simply a matter of weighing the perceived benefits to the alcohol ban with the known drawbacks and then finding a common ground. One of the things I like about the Thai's the most, in general, is their willingness to compromise.

[kmart]

One of the things I like about the Thai's the most, in general, is their willingness to compromise.

Sadly, its also their biggest weakness in a lot of instances.

[Spenthouse]

at least natalie doesn't have to turn in her work permit just yet!

[PhilHarries]

Alcohol-Ad Ban Toned Down

The name of an alcohol company is allowed to appear as a sponsor of a TV programme without time restriction as long as it is not the same name as the alcohol product, said Manit Arunaku, the acting secretarygeneral of the FDA.

If an alcohol company makes other products, such as drinking water, and uses the same logo, advertising for the nonalcohol product is allowed only if the logo comes in a different colour, he said.

-- The Nation 2006-10-26

Only in Thailand could they make such an almighty mess of a simple concept.

The choice was total ban or no ban, so they chose a total partial ban.

They cannot use the corporate name if it is the same or similar to the alchohol brand. Heineken and Carlsberg cannot advertise but Boon Rawd can so long as they don't say brewery. I suppose they could say sugar conversion plant.

Could they work on the principal that, provided first and last letters are correct, the order of the ones in between is irrelevant to the brain's ability to sort them out? So we will have ads for Crelsbrag, Heeknein and Shigna, sorry for the Leo guys out there but you can't win them all.

And they can advertise bottled water provided the logo colour is different. Is this the colour of the logo used in the advert or do they have to change the colour on the products?

But all this is one thing for Thai televison, radio and printed media but what about satellite channels and imported magazines?

Think forward to December when you find that little alchohol counter tucked away at the back corner of Big C, as displays will be banned also, "psssttt, can I have five cases of Crelsbrag?". Then you have the problem of getting them to the car without displaying them to the passing public. Modesty covers will be the order of the day.

My brain hurts!

[britmaveric]

It's a pity they toned it down - alcohol kills many every day here.

It's insane law - not advertising certainly isnt going to decrease drinking, even a fool knows that.

Edited October 27, 2006 by britmaveric

[womble]

So the new laws make no difference at all. 18 year old can still by booze from the mom and pop store as that law will never be enforced, and clubs were over 20 anyway.

This is all about saving lots of face.

Business as usual then!

[eddie11]

Have never seen a ad for Lao kao.

That is the poison of choice in Issan

[jdinasia]

It's a pity they toned it down - alcohol kills many every day here.

It's insane law - not advertising certainly isnt going to decrease drinking, even a fool knows that.

zthere aremany folks that qualifyfor Darwin awards here ..... not that it is always a bad thing .... breeding for less alcoholsim and more luck in the long run!

[opothai]

It's a pity they toned it down - alcohol kills many every day here.

It's insane law - not advertising certainly isnt going to decrease drinking, even a fool knows that.

very true brit,

if the government want to curb drinking then maybe a different approach should be taken,

give the younger generation some sort of future to look forward to,

why do so many yong people drink so heavily, my answer would be they are not happy with thier lot.

do not get me wrong, i am in no way trying to stand up for loutish behaviour, but i have been talking to my son and some of his friends in england about thier drinking habits, and the most common answer is they work hard all week, do not make enough to buy property or to make a future, so at weekends they have big blowouts, this is in the uk, but i can see the familiarities between the thai youths and the uk youths, they need proper jobs with decent pay to look forward to something. and to stop reading about thier respective governments seeminly wasting vast amounts of money on absurd projects.

until this is addressed then the thais will continue to drink loa koa which is not even advertised, it's just a cheap fix, to forget the problems in front of them. imho

[fruittbatt]

It's a pity they toned it down - alcohol kills many every day here.

It's insane law - not advertising certainly isnt going to decrease drinking, even a fool knows that.

very true brit,

if the government want to curb drinking then maybe a different approach should be taken,

give the younger generation some sort of future to look forward to,

why do so many yong people drink so heavily, my answer would be they are not happy with thier lot.

do not get me wrong, i am in no way trying to stand up for loutish behaviour, but i have been talking to my son and some of his friends in england about thier drinking habits, and the most common answer is they work hard all week, do not make enough to buy property or to make a future, so at weekends they have big blowouts, this is in the uk, but i can see the familiarities between the thai youths and the uk youths, they need proper jobs with decent pay to look forward to something. and to stop reading about thier respective governments seeminly wasting vast amounts of money on absurd projects.

until this is addressed then the thais will continue to drink loa koa which is not even advertised, it's just a cheap fix, to forget the problems in front of them. imho

While I empathise with the problems of younger workers, economic status is not necessarily connected with substance abuse.

In every culture at every period of history many people have sought escape from existential pain through use of substances, whether alcohol, stimulants or narcotics.

The desire for escape is linked by advertisers with increasing one's professional status, finding the right partner, being popular or sexy or attractive. Consumers are encouraged to hitch their hopes and ambitions and identity to the consumption of a particular product.

When advertising is not countered by public information about the destructive effects of excessive alcohol consumption, road safety campaigns and policing of drunk drivers, accidents escalate etc, etc.

In Thailand, as in Sri Lanka, alcohol consumption also runs counter to Buddhist belief and practice. The tensions in Thai society between big booze business and traditional Buddhist practice are very deep, and confusing to many who are caught between conflicting discourses.

A ban on advertising booze is probably too late. Business has way too much at stake here, hence the compromise. Maybe a better solution would be to tax big booze business hard to fund public awareness campaigns re the damaging physical and social effects of alcohol abuse.