Comments on: Alcopops memo to the Senate: It’s the taste, stupid

By: Ozziejack

Ozziejack — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Of course young people are not going to swap to pinot noir. They are swapping to straight spirits and mixers. They are swapping to getting half shot BEFORE they go out so they don’t have to pay exorbitant prices in pubs and clubs. Much as the alcopops provide the alcohol free taste and slide down easily, an approach to the whole spirits based drinks needs to be made. I think we also need to look for the causes of binge drinking. What has changed in the past 30 years to make it so prevalent?

By: Simon Chapman

Simon Chapman — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Spot on Jennifer — great analysis!

By: oie

oie — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Excellent article - sums it up perfectly

By: Naomi Cartledge

Naomi Cartledge — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

A woman (can’t recall her name - a Psychologist who’s studied social behaviours etc)from Wollongong University was interviewed on the local ABC a couple of days ago. As I recall, she suggested taxing alcohol in relation to the number of standard drinks in the bottle/can etc. For instance, the amount of alcohol in some of these bottles of Alcopops is the equivalent to 2 or 3 standard drinks - why not tax them accordingly. A stubby of beer is equivalent to 1 or 2 dependant on the strength. Is this the same as the “volumetric tax” or one step further? It would increase the cost of a bottle of vodka or whisky etc and therefore out of the financial limits of young people - perhaps others as well?
Thanks to Senator Fielding, there won’t be any monies set aside for warnings or educational advertisements on TV and labels. I can’t see anything responsible in his action, or the Conservative Opposition either for that matter seeing they voted against the Legislation too!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

True enough. However it is also worth noting that, following the introduction of the alcopops tax, the Australian Hotels Association reported a significant spike in sales of straight spirits. This was confirmed for me by a number of young people that i spoke to at the time. Some of those young people also noted that this was a much cheaper option and confirmed that they would continue to buy straight spirits 'from now on'.

Frankly, I can't help but think that a bottle of straight spirits in the hands of a partying teenager is of much more concern than a dozen sugary alcopops.

By: Michael Cordover

Michael Cordover — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Beware statistics!

Certainly, young people drink more alcopops than any type of alcohol. Certainly, young people engage in more higher risk drinking than other people. This does not make alcopops dangerous!

While the Melbourne Club won't be serving cruisers for some time to come, price is often a strong consideration for teens on extremely low incomes (youth allowance is less than $300/fortnight). When your 2003 Pinot comes in a box suddenly that's a far more familiar situation.

Alcopops are, on the whole, safer than the probable alternative: a return to $20-a-bottle vodka and whatever generic carbonated beverage you can get for 99c. Alcopops have about the same strength as beer and are about as popular for girls as beer is for boys. Do people still drink dangerously? Of course. But it's not because the drinks taste nice. It's because young people engage in risky behaviour. Alcopops are, in fact, a harm minimiser, preventing the downing of whole bottles of vodka in one go.