thecollegeview. Wednesday, 26 October, 2016
www.thecollegeview.com Vol. XVIII, Issue 3
CV
. Est. 1999 .
New report heavily criticises Diageo funded campaign Hayley Halpin News Editor @HayleyHalpin1
A recently published report deter-
mined that the Diageo funded StopOut-Of-Control-Drinking campaign, meets the needs of the alcohol industry, rather than public health in Ireland. The report was published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS ONE), an international journal that focuses on science and medicine. It was written and researched by six health academics in UCC, London and Stirling, Scotland. President of DCU, Brian MacCraith is one of the original 17 members of the board of the campaign. MacCraith wrote the SOOCD Action Plan, along with DCU Professor of Political Communication, Kevin Rafter. The action plan is no longer available online. SOOCD was set up by Diageo, the multinational alcohol company, who invested €1 million into the campaign. Fergus Finlay, Chief Executive of Barnardo’s chairs the campaign. David Smith, Chief Executive of Diageo of the campaign resigned following an array of negative media coverage of the campaign. However, Diageo did not pull their funding. A statement released by DCU said that “Professor Brian MacCraith joined the board of the Stop Out of Control Drinking Campaign, along with other respected community leaders, in a serious effort to address the very real and pervasive issue of alcohol abuse and misuse in Ireland.” However, President MacCraith was unavailable for comment regarding the critique released this week. The report lists the campaign’s board members, their role, backgrounds and previous connects with Diageo, along with how many interviews each have participated in relating to the campaign. Six of the original members have connections to the drinks company.
Findings of the report Throughout the detailed analysis conducted, the report found that “out of control drinking” is presented by the SOOCD as a behavioural issue among young people, particularly young women. The report determined that “that major focus of the campaign is on the behavioural consequences of drinking, and not the health consequences.” It found that, according to the board members, there are three main causes of excessive drinking in young people: individual attitudes and motivations; Irish culture, tradition and society; and peers and parents. The health consequences of alcohol are almost entirely absent from discussion within the campaign. It found that most board members place the greatest emphasis on the visible behaviour, not the effects on health. It was noted that the role of the alcohol industry in “creating and shaping that culture” is never acknowledged by most board members, while drinking culture is continuously cited as a crucial cause of “out of control drinking”. During the examination of the emphasis on “drinking behaviour” rather than health, the report claimed that it is “very supportive of the needs of the alcohol industry, but not of public health”. It was suggested that the alcohol industry may focus on underage drinking and antisocial behaviour, as “publicly visible antisocial behaviour poses a significant PR challenge because it affects attention in the media”. The parallels between the campaign and the “tactics and framing” employed by the SOOCD campaign have many similarities, the report determined. SOOCD campaign was identified to have included tactics such as indirect lobbying in order to oppose public health measures; forming alliances with civil society organisations and consumers; Continued on page 3
First CRC of the year held in Glendalough Rebecca Lumley News Editor @RebeccaLumley1
THE first Class Rep Council of the
Students came out in their thousands in protest of student fees, last week. Credit: Andrew Byrne
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Sport
Opinion
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Saints clip Eagles’ wings in season opener 20
Ceolchoirmeacha sa chathair ar phragas réasúnta íseal 12
Arts
Consider consent—there’s no need for stigma 7
year took place in Glendalough last Thursday and saw the election of 11 new class rep officers and an Electoral Committee. The meeting was held at the end of a two-day training trip for class reps, which was attended by 95 people, including the Students’ Union executive. A limited number of reps could attend, with all present reps casting their votes for the available positions. When asked if capping the number of students who could attend the meeting was providing equal opportunity for all reps to either run or vote in the elections, Chair of CRC, Callaghan Commons said that everyone had been given a chance. “Realistically not all class reps were going to attend, they never do,” he said. “We sent out an email (outlining the election schedule) . If they wanted to run they could contact us but nobody contacted us back. There was fairness around everyone, all the class reps had a chance to run.” First to be elected was the Electoral Committee, who, amongst other things, help oversee the annual SU elections. Nine people put themselves forward for a place on the committee and eight were elected. The Electoral Committee will be chaired by OSL officer Andy Dunne, who held the same position last year and filled in at Thursday’s meeting as returning officer. Also elected was a first-year officer, access officer, accommodation officer, sustainability officer, equality officer, equality LGBTA officer, international officer, INTRA officer, an Irish officer, nursing officer and mature officer. Unusually, the budget was not discussed as it typically is at the first CRC of the year. SU President, Dylan Kehoe said this was because of an issue with accounts due to the incorporation. He said the budget would be provided for class reps at the next council meeting.
Features
University mental health services in great demand
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