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What is « loi Evin »
• One of the most severe law on advertising in Europe
• In a country where « passion » for alcohol is hot
• In a country where alcohol control is often low
• How can we explain this real French paradox ?
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Why this law ?
• Former French law (in the seventies) was discriminating : it gave advantage to French products
• France was condemned in 1979 by the European Court of Justice
• But French governments took time to change the law
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A Decade of French advertising
From 1980 to 1990 alcohol producers used this legal gap
The ad became more and more provocative
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Help! What does the police ?
• Ignoring their own codes of good practices the ad men and producers went high in provocation and played with fire.
• The only way to stop these ads was to legislate
• ANPA and health experts lobbied until
• Loi Evin was voted by the French parliament
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Articles of Loi Evin on alcohol
• Definition of alcoholic drinks
• Nature of advertising authorized
• Content of advertising
• Others topics : i e alcohol selling automate are forbidden
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1. Definition of drinks
• The law gives a clear definition of alcoholics drinks :
• All drinks over 1,2 % alcohol
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2. Places and media of authorized advertising
• Advertising is forbidden
- when targeted to young people
- on TV and cinema
• No sponsorship is authorised
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3. Within these media
•Messages and images should refer only to the qualities of the products : it allows to give information on the products as the producers ask
•A health message must be included : « L’abus d’alcool est dangereux pour la santé » Alcohol abuse is dangerous for health
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Consequences of the law 1991-2004
• Illegal advertising have been condemned
• Since 1991 : - 20 advertisements were brought to the Court by ANPA
- And 18 were condemned
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Consequences of the law 1991-2004
• Penalties are high
• So alcohol producers, media and admen became more careful
• And advertising has lost most of its seductive character
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Consequences on Media and Sports
• Cancellation of international football matches
• American brewer Anheuser Bush could not sponsor the 1998 Football World Cup
• And France won the Cup for the first time
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What are the limits of the law ?
• Many marketing tools are not controlled
• Mailing• Internet• Social events
• Control of advertising is only a part of an overall strategy of prevention
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A law difficult to assess
• Difficult to assess the role of one factor (here advertising) on consumption and harm
• The effect of advertising on consumption is weak
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A law difficult to assess
• Assessment is more difficult in the French situation where we benefit of a dramatic diminution of the average consumption
- since 1960
- 1 % per year
- from 30 to 13 litres alcohol per capita per year
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A law difficult to assess
• Quantitative effects may be impossible to assess…
• … but symbolic effects are visible
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The symbolic effect of the law
• Advertising reinforces preconceived ideas about alcohol
• In most European countries advertising associates alcohol consumption with personal, sexual and social success… even if it forbidden by codes of practice
• A law is the only way to change this seductive language
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The need for a European legislative framework
• Development of multinationals
• Products and images cross frontiers
• Internationalization of life styles and drinking cultures
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A law that cannot be ignored
• The law has been attacked in and outside France
• Very recently…
while the law has been attacked by the French wine producers…
it has been defended by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice
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The Advocate General proposes that the Court should rule that
• French measures on advertising limit the consumption
• French rules are not disproportionate
• The French law allows the freedom to provides services enshrined in the Treaty
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We hope that the law is here to stay because this text
• is easy to apply• is difficult to distort• has modified the seductive language of
advertising • is compatible with European legislation
• This is no real surprise as the law was a response to the 1979 European Court decision
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We hope that the spirit of the law could be applied in Europe
• Minimal measures compatible with subsidiarity
• In order to protect the younger generations
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