Coelho, Bruno Mendonça

Santana, Geilson Lima

Wang, Yuan Pang

English

Cadernos Espinosanos (E-Journal)

671CLINICS 2007;62(6):671-2Instituto de Psiquiatria - Núcleo de Epidemiologia Psiquiátrica – Hospitaldas Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, SP-BrazilEmail: geilson.santana@hotmail.comEDITORIALON THE ADVERTISEMENT OF ALCOHOLICBEVERAGES AND THE OMISSION OF BRAZILIANDOCTORSGeilson Lima Santana, Bruno Mendonça Coelho, Yuan Pang WangIn November 2005, Brazilian National Health Surveil-lance Agency (ANVISA) published the 83rd Public Consul-tation, which wells upon the regulation of alcohol adver-tisement. Nevertheless, in spite of the relevance of thisquestion and its impact on public health, the debate withinthe medical community has been expressionless.According to the World Health Organization (WHO),the consumption of alcohol in Brazil increased 74.5% from1970 to1990. Presently, the beer market puts in circulationan annual amount of US$ 12 billion and Brazil stands asfifth global market1. This is a highly competitive niche andcompanies fight for the differentiation of their products sus-tained by aggressive and successful strategies: the relation-ship between investment on propaganda and alcohol con-sumption is well known by the industry, advertisers andmass media. Each additional dollar invested in the public-ity of ethanol results in a 3% increase in its consumptionby the youth2. In 2001, US$ 106 million were invested inthe advertising of alcoholic beverages in Brazil and, sincethen, there was a 2% increase in the prevalence of alco-holism among those aged 12 to 17 years. A 7% prevalenceof alcohol dependence is estimated for this population3.Choosing youth as target for marketing is a strategicdecision: alcohol advertising influences the initiation andcontinuation of ethanol ingestion by the underage, theamount and frequency of its ingestion and predicts furtherdependence in adulthood2. The effects of marketing are cu-mulative and, in this manner, the industry assures the per-spective of a sustained growth.However, this population is the most vulnerable toharmful consequences of alcohol. As demonstrated byPechansky et al., this substance is more strongly associ-ated with mortality among youths than all other drugs puttogether; being under the effects of alcohol augments thechance of sexual violence and unsafe sexual behavior; fur-thermore, ethanol poses an increased risk of neuropsycho-logical dysfunctions and poor academic performance4.In order to restore or, at least, soften this severe publichealth problem, ANVISA has proposed restrictions to thepublicity of ethanol regarding its content and time for ex-hibition on media. It has been demonstrated that these con-stitute an efficient intervention: countries where the pub-licity of alcohol is partially prohibited present a 16% lowerlevel of ethanol consumption and a 10% less frequent oc-currence of fatal car accidents5. Moreover, in oppositionto market arguments, publicity autoregulation has provedto be useless in the trimming of the abuses of ethylic prod-ucts’ communication.Although these data are highly significant, the publicdebate on this question remains insufficient. It urges a moreextensive discussion of such matter and the support ofhealth care providers in favor of the restriction of the pub-licity of ethanol. More important than the financial healthof the industry, what must be taken into account is the im-pressive impact of alcohol on public health. We must notshun our responsibility.672CLINICS 2007;62(6):671-2On the advertisement of alcoholic beverages and the omission of Brazilian doctorsSantana GL et al.REFERENCES1. Conselho de Comunicação Social do Congresso Nacional. Estudo sobreo álcool nos meios de comunicação. 1ª Reunião Ordinária do C.C.S;Brasília; 06 de Março de 2006.2. Snyder LB, Milici FF, Slater M, Sum H, Strizhakova Y. Effects of alcoholadvertising exposure on drinking among youth. Arch Pediatr AdolescMed. 2006;160:18-24.3. Carlini EA. Dados preliminares do II levantamento domiciliar sobre ouso de drogas psicotrópicas no Brasil – 2005. Available from URL:h t tp : / /www.unodc .o rg /pdf /b raz i l / I I%20Levan tamento%20Domiciliar%20Dr%20Elisaldo%20Carlini_alterado2.pdf4. Pechansky F, Szobot CM, Scivoletto S. Uso de álcool entre adolescentes:conceitos, características epidemiológicas e fatores etiopatogênicos. RevBras Psiquiatr. 2004;26(Supl I):14-17.5. Babor TF, Caetano R, Caswell S, Edwards G, Giesbrech N, Grahan K etal. Alcohol: no ordinary commodity: research and public policy. Oxford:Oxford University Press; 2003.

On the advertisement of alcoholic beverages and the omission of Brazilian doctors

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On the advertisement of alcoholic beverages and the omission of Brazilian doctors

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