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1 Mar, 2014

Expert condemns ‘appalling’ DrinkWise campaign – Sydney Morning Herald

A public health expert has condemned as “appalling” a new series of online advertisements, funded by alcohol industry body DrinkWise Australia, that try to instruct young Australians “how to drink properly”.

Professor Mike Daube, the director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute and the McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth, said the campaign used crass language to encourage alcohol consumption and was “pretty much the most irresponsible advertising I’ve ever seen”.

He called for the advertisements to be withdrawn immediately.

The advertising campaign features an animated James Bond-like character who tells viewers in one clip to avoid drinking “like an amateur” or risk ending up “s—faced”. The aim, the character says, is to find your individual “realm of drinking excellence”.

Read the rest: Expert condemns ‘appalling’ DrinkWise campaign.