PA
Do your kids know their Bacardi Breezers from their Ben and Jerry's? A shocking new survey reckons that children as young as TEN are more familiar with the leading brands of booze than they are with popular snacks.
Researchers quizzed more than 400 children aged 10 and 11 and discovered 79 per cent of them correctly recognised Carlsberg as an alcoholic drink, whilst only 41 per cent knew Mr Kipling was a cake brand. Staggeringly, a massive 79% of the youngsters recognised the logo for Smirnoff vodka.
The kids were were also shown brand images, logos and TV adverts for popular non-alcoholic products such as soft drinks and breakfast cereals and asked to say whether they were "food", "soft drink" or "alcoholic drink".
Seventy five per cent of the children correctly associated an image of 'Brad and Dan' from the Fosters TV advert as being connected to alcohol - much higher than the number (42 per cent) who correctly identified the Cadbury's drumming gorilla commercial.
Alcohol Concern says there should be a greater regulation of broadcast alcohol advertising, as well as reviewing alcohol industry sponsorship of cultural and sporting events. Promotion of alcohol, it says, should be based on factual information such as the its strength, place of origin and ingredients, and it must come with a clear health warning.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture Media and Sport told the Press Association: "It is imperative that we have robust, evidence-based alcohol advertising rules in place to ensure appropriate levels of consumer protection, especially for children and young people."
"The regulation of alcohol advertising is considered closely by Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority and, where appropriate, they have taken action to strengthen the alcohol advertising rules. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the UK's regulatory regimes to ensure that there is sufficient protection for the public, particularly children and young people, including the regulation of new digital media."
Henry Ashworth, chief executive of the Portman Group, who represents alcohol producers, said that the claims contradicts latest figures which show a 'downward trend' in the number of kids trying alcohol. "The UK has strict rules to prevent alcohol being marketed or sold to children and these rules are rigorously enforced," he said.
What do you think? Would your kids be able to easily identify brands of alcohol?