In my project I am going to be focusing on advertising of Alcohol in our current society and its positive and negative effects.
By looking at how the negative health effect of smoking changed the advertising of cigarettes I will relate this to what we already know about alcohol and its damaging attributes both physically and mentally, and assess if the advertising of alcohol needs to change.
It is arguable that because alcohol is a legal product then it should be legal to advertise.
However, the same can be said for cigarettes but because of the clear connection between cancer and cigarettes.
Clearly a total ban on alcohol advertising would be detrimental to individual brands of alcohol, but possibly not on the general sale of alcohol.
The main arguments against alcohol advertising suggest they increase sales in existing drinkers and provoke new young drinkers.
Cheap accessible alcohol promotes anti-social behaviour and heavy drinking which can lead to alcoholism and depression in later life, as well as various health issues.
Essentially, advertising of alcohol legitimates excessive use of a potentially damaging product.
To establish if it is right to ban alcohol or an infringement of our liberty I will be looking at Bentham and Mill’s concept of welfare. A vitally important question for Mill is what are: “the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by the society over the individual’ (L.1.1)
I aim to establish whether the health effects of alcohol are reason enough to ban the advertising of it.