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EACA partners drinks industry to address ‘binge drinking’ concerns

EACA Partners Drinks Industry to Address ‘Binge Drinking’ Concerns

Brussels 7 December 2007: “Talk About Alcohol “, a new website which aims to provide young people with the facts about alcohol and increase awareness of the effects of drinking alcohol among adolescents, has been launched through a joint initiative of The European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) and The European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA), in consultation with AEDE, Generation Europe and COFACE. 

In many European countries, adolescents are drinking more frequently and in greater quantities than in the past1. Drinking to drunkenness (also known as 'binge drinking') is a growing problem among young people.

Talk About Alcohol (http://www.talkaboutalcohol.com/) has been developed by EdComs, an educational consultancy, at the request of EFRD and EACA with the specific objectives of:

• improving young people's understanding of alcohol and its effect on the immature body
• increasing knowledge and awareness of the risks associated with alcohol consumption by those who are underage
• raising awareness among young people of the laws restricting the consumption of alcohol and why these exist
• raising awareness of the option not to drink as a choice in relation to alcohol.

Over the longer term, the Talk About Alcohol programme, together with the efforts of many different people and organisations, should contribute to a sustainable change in behaviour by young people, including reducing the prevalence of 'binge drinking'; ensuring that alcohol is consumed in moderate and safe quantities, or delaying the onset of regular drinking behaviour among those who are under the legal drinking age.

The Talk About Alcohol website has been developed for the 11-16 year-old age group. It is within this age range that young people may begin to become inquisitive about alcohol and its effects, experiment with drinking with their peers, and in some cases establish patterns of drinking, including drinking to get drunk.

Most school curricula include the requirement to teach about alcohol. Research suggests that teachers believe they have a role in educating young people about
drinking, but many of them lack appropriate teaching resources to help them do so.

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[1Source: European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) study, 2003 report, p65]
 

EACA partners drinks industry to address ‘binge drinking’ concerns…/2

The strategy of Talk About Alcohol is to use areas of interest and concern to young people to stimulate engagement with the subject and with associated issues as they affect young people. Contact will be through the classroom via curriculum-based teaching materials. There is also a section developed specifically for use by young people in their own time. In addition, information and advice for parents is provided in a separate section to help them to address alcohol issues with their children.

The original programme was developed by EFRD and EACA with the support of a team of education experts, teachers and young people, in partnership with The European Association of Teachers (AEDE), The Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE) and Generation Europe Foundation.

Talk About Alcohol has been through a rigorous research, development and piloting process. During the pilot, teachers, students and parents in three European countries (Spain, UK & Czech Republic) gave a high approval rating to the site.

Some key findings from the research report produced by Researchworks for the EFRD, April 2006 show that:

• A majority of respondents indicated that the website was clear and informative. Furthermore, the content, layout and design style were all positively rated.
• A significant majority (88%) of students reported having learnt something new from the lessons.
• The website was strongly rated on a number of site attributes such as ease of use, engagement and type of content.
• The website achieved high levels of advocacy with almost half of students: 44% reported that they would recommend the website to their friends.
• 49% of students reported they had spoken to someone about alcohol since using the website
• A majority of students (61%) rated the ‘Talk About Alcohol’ lessons as more enjoyable than other lessons.
• The worksheets were rated as useful by 84% of teachers
• Over 70% of teachers considered the lessons to have been ‘successful’ in terms of engaging students, increasing awareness of the risks for young people associated with alcohol and increasing awareness of the impact of alcohol.
• 60% of teachers felt that they would recommend the ‘Talk About Alcohol’ website to other teachers.
• Overall, parents considered the site valuable, particularly as a means of facilitating a conversation about alcohol between parents and children.

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For further information, please contact:

Dominic Lyle, EACA,    +32 2 740 0711 / mobile +32 475 703 183 

Note to editors:

The principles  of Talk About Alcohol

In developing the content of the Talk About Alcohol website, the following general principles have been adopted.

1. The content should provide information and activities to allow young people to understand the effects of alcohol, especially on the immature body.
2. The content should re-iterate the legal restrictions on drinking alcohol, especially as they relate to young people and risk groups.
3. Choosing not to drink should be positioned as a genuine choice in relation to alcohol and should not be presented in a negative light.
4. Young people should not feel they have to drink alcohol in order to enjoy themselves or be accepted by their peers.
5. Scenarios should not assume that young people choose to drink alcohol.
6. The content should not portray drinking alcohol as a means of increasing confidence, sexual attractiveness or social acceptance
7. The content may offer advice for sensible drinking provided this relates to those of legal drinking age

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) is a Brussels-based organisation whose mission is to represent full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe. EACA aims to promote honest, effective advertising, high professional standards, and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies.