A total ban on alcohol advertising: Presenting the public health case

Charles Parry, Nadine Harker Burnhams, Leslie London
Twenty-three years after a South African Medical Journal article called for a ban on tobacco advertising,1 ample evidence indicates
that the severe public health burden from hazardous and harmful use of alcohol in South Africa warrants the same drastic action. While abstention from drinking is high, South Africa is among the countries having the highest consumption of absolute alcohol per drinker per year, the second highest category of harmful patterns of drinking, and the highest category for past year heavy episodic drinking.2 While liquor producers profit substantially from their customers engaging in heavy drinking episodes, this behaviour places an enormous burden on the country.

 SAMJ_Alcohol_Advertising.pdf