We note the question raised by Jakob Manthey and colleagues1 regarding the identification of alcohol marketing bans as a quick buy in our Health Policy article.2 However, we maintain that this designation is justified. When identifying the non-communicable diseases quick buys, we limited our review to the established, evidence based and cost-effective WHO best buys (eg, the WHO best buy to “Enact and enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising (across multiple types of media)”)3 and the existing, globally agreed upon targets, such as reduction in alcohol per capita consumption.
Countries with strong, comprehensive bans on marketing of alcohol have seen reduced overall per capita consumption.4, 5, 6 As mentioned in the letter, a working group convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently evaluated the evidence for selected alcohol policy interventions to lead to a reduction in alcohol consumption and concluded “there is sufficient evidence that strong bans on alcohol marketing lead to a reduction in alcoholic beverage consumption”.7 Additionally, exposure to alcohol marketing is associated with initiation of alcohol use among youth and increased consumption amongst baseline drinkers.8 Our review took the established WHO best buys and their evidence3 as the starting point and focused on reviews that included an element of time to benefit. Our review criteria also included individual-level randomised controlled trials on the effects of alcohol marketing, which reveal rapid effects on alcohol consumption.2
Contributors
AE, DS and GG contributed to the drafting of this response.
Declaration of interests
No conflicts of interest to declare.
References
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