Madam, - Patrick Kenny (Opinion & Analysis, March 23rd)makes sweeping statements which appear to ignore some very pertinent facts.
To suggest that we in Ireland engage in a debate about binge drinking year after year is quite erroneous. In fact the idea of drunken youths using our national holiday to indulge their misguided and unpleasant excesses is a very recent phenomenon which has coincided with the greater affluence which they enjoy and also with our rightful and highly successful efforts to make St Patrick's Day into a major festival. Not too long ago the celebrations amounted to a few lorry floats, a couple of marching bands and a local actor dressed as St Patrick. We now have a festival spread over a number of days with great spectacle, enjoyed "sensibly" by hundreds of thousands of people.
Unfortunately, there are those, still a minority, who manage to spoil this occasion for themselves and for others and then manage to draw most of the subsequent attention and comment.
To suggest, as Mr Kenny has done, that Guinness feeds into the stereotypical culture of drunkenness couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, we support our day of national celebration but this does not extend in any way to supporting or condoning under-age and binge drinking.
Mr Kenny dismisses social responsibility advertising as ineffective without checking the facts. We conduct ongoing research into the impact of our social responsibility ads on consumers in terms of understanding and impact. We know that people viewing our ad, "Don't See a Great Night [ St Patrick's Day] Wasted" are influenced: 76 per cent are more likely to consider drinking more responsibly and 38 per cent said they would consider drinking less.
This is what has influenced us to continue to advertise in this way and we are currently developing a new campaign which should come on stream in September. Our research influencing the style and tone of the new advertisement has shown that the strongest motivator to drink responsibly are the social effects of irresponsible drinking - losing friends, ruining a good night out and appearing negatively to the opposite sex. On the other hand, the "shock and scare" tactics used in some advertisements around the world not only normalise the most unacceptable behaviour, as detailed clearly by Mr Kenny, but also, and most importantly, don't work.
The investment placed behind the promotion of brands is aimed at just that - promoting individual brands, contrary to Mr Kenny's assertion. Even a cursory examination of alcohol advertising expenditure trends and overall consumption trends show clearly that there is little relationship between the two. Drawing a comparison with the smoking ban like comparing apples and oranges. Smoking is known to harm whereas alcohol consumption - in moderation - does not. Therefore the absolute which we have applied to smoking in Ireland can never apply to alcohol.
There is merit in Mr Kenny's concluding remark that we need openness in attempting to deal with underage drinking and should learn from other cultures and implement creative and, where necessary, tough policies. Diageo believes that it is pursuing such an approach but the complex problems of alcohol abuse and under-age drinking require most of all a consistent and co-operative engagement from Government, the industry and the community as a whole working together to achieve a real change in behaviour. - Yours, etc.,
PAT BARRY, Director of Communications, Diageo Ireland, Dublin 8.