ALCOHOL advertising is risking the lives and futures of children across the region by encouraging them to drink early and more, according to a campaign.

Click here to for more information on Alcohol Awareness Week and to sign the Balance petition

Through its See What Sam Sees campaign, Balance, the North-East Alcohol Office, is inviting people to take a child’s eye view of the way the alcohol industry bombards young people with adverts that make drinkers appear popular, successful and attractive.

In the region, 55 per cent of people agree that alcohol targets under-18s.

During this year’s Rugby World Cup, children and young people in the North- East were subjected to more than 100 alcohol adverts. Last week, youngsters saw alcohol adverts during the European Champions League matches.

The North-East has the highest rate of alcoholspecific hospital admissions for under-18s in England and the highest rate of 11 to 15- year-olds who admit to drinking alcohol.

Balance director Colin Shevills said: “Our children are brought up in a world where drinking at an early age and consuming large quantities is viewed as normal or acceptable, and alcohol advertising plays a central role in this. We need to stop the alcohol industry from recruiting its next generation of drinkers and exposing young people to £800m worth of marketing a year.”

Central to Balance’s campaign is a film which follows Sam, a young boy, taking photographs of alcohol images during a normal day. The photographs he has taken then flood the screen. The film cannot be seen on TV after regulators said it contravened the Communications Act 2003, because Balance hoped to use the advert to encourage visitors to sign a petition calling on the Government to stop the alcohol industry reaching young people through advertising.

Mr Shevills said: “It seems unfair that an advert which seeks to inform people and protect public health and the lives of our children is deemed unfit for broadcast.”

Visit balancenortheast.co.uk to sign the petition, which calls for regulations to:

• Prevent alcohol adverts from targeting youngsters;
•
• Prevent alcohol adverts from being shown on TV and in the cinema for under-18 certificate films;
• Prevent alcohol adverts from being shown through social networking sites;
• Prevent alcohol sponsorship of sporting and youth events.