IS PROHIBITION BACK IN FRANCE AND THE UK? IN BORDEAUX AND CHAMPAGNE COUNTRY SOME ARE ASKING TO PROHIBIT ADS ON ALL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, INCLUDING WINE ON ALL THE MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL NETWORKS.

In 2013 Russia, under Putin’s reign, prohibited all forms of advertising of alcoholic products without distinction, in magazines, websites, blogs, etc. as a tool for the fight against alcoholism. And what if the same thing happens in Europe, especially in two countries symbols of freedom of expression and sales and marketing, such as France, (also home of noble wines) and the United Kingdom? It would be quite a rare happening, but prohibitionist winds are blowing again in the Old World.

In France, says "Decanter", the debate is more heated than ever. The report on "Damages related to addiction and strategies to reduce it”, presented to the Government and signed by Professor Michel Reynaud, director of the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Care at the University Hospital Paul-Brousse, suggests nothing less than to ban advertising of all alcoholic beverages, including wine, on the Internet and social media, and to make media and specialty sites more difficult for young people to access. This is because, according to Reynaud, boys between 12 and 17 years old exposed to these instruments, are 3 times more likely to be attracted to alcohol than those who do not have access to the internet, social networks and so on. The proposal, of course, has already sparked the opposition of both wine producers and journalists and editors specialized in wine, against what would be considered a real "gag" on information and communication.
In France, they have started the campaign "Ne Touche Pas a Mon Vigneron", and sent a petition to the Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Ministers of Agriculture, Le Foll and Health, Touraine, requesting that wine be formally distinguished from other spirits.
In the UK, however, Alcohol Concern, the independent organization committed to the fight against alcoholism, as reported by "The Drink Business," has asked the Government to introduce a ban on advertising alcoholic products in sports or music events because, "children and young people are more exposed than ever to advertisements for alcoholic products, and they recognize faster brands of beverages than sweets and ice cream. And that says a lot about the fact that the rules on alcohol advertising do not work”, says Eric Appleby, at the head of Alcohol Concern. The Government, of course, is a slow machine, and the beverage industries are opposed. But in any case, apparently, the idea that prohibition is stronger than educating how to drink responsibly, has not abandoned Europe.