CLOSE-UP: LIVE ISSUE - ALCOHOL ADVERTISING. Will alcohol ads count the cost of their excesses?

Alcohol ads are in danger of straying too far from the rulebook.

The UK's alcohol advertisers are walking a tight rope. Although the public rarely complains about alcohol advertising, those who study 'alcohol-related harm' are looking increasingly concerned.

The US-based International Center for Alcohol Policies organised a conference in Dublin recently on 'Alcohol Ethics and Society' International delegates, concerned with public health, entered a somewhat uneasy dialogue with booze marketers and their lobbyists.

The conference raised the question: 'Are higher standards needed for alcohol advertising than the standard rules on truth and decency?' The right answer is 'Yes'.

Alcohol advertising brings pleasure to a great many people, but it is also dangerous. Any scientific study of road accidents, violence, admissions to accident and emergency departments, marriage break-ups and sexually transmitted disease will find that excessive use of alcohol has often played a role.

Although average per capita consumption of pure alcohol is in decline in many countries, it has increased in the past decade in the UK and Ireland and there is anecdotal evidence that 'binge drinking' - drinking to get drunk - is on the increase among young people in both countries.

Although alcohol advertising is a weak influence on consumption as a whole, its visibility and the fact that it increasingly reflects young drinkers' behaviour makes it an obvious target for further restriction by the public health lobby.