Letter first published in The Age, July 13, 2011.

On July 12, the alcohol industry announced warning labels on alcohol. These tiny labels do not provide the full picture about the damage alcohol can cause. It is good to see industry acknowledgement that the public deserve to know the inherent health risks associated with their product.

But this is about branding for Drinkwise, rather than providing health information for the community.

 It is also clear that the alcohol industry is attempting to deflect bigger changes to alcohol labelling currently under consideration by the State and Federal Governments.

VicHealth and the Alcohol Policy Coalition have already done the grunt work to find out what works on alcohol labels to give people clear information about the risks. That was two years ago. It was widely publicised in the media, at conferences and the information is available on VicHealth’s website.

Alcohol labels must provide simple and clearly visible evidence about the health risks, use the right tone and even humour, if appropriate.

They must be informative, rather than authoritarian, and provide the full range of information tailored to drinkers of specific products. For example, alcopops should carry labels directed at young people.

This isn’t about telling people what they can and can’t drink, it’s about giving drinkers all of the facts to make informed decisions.

The industry's alcohol labelling announcement is poorly executed attempt and we know that they can do better.

Associate Professor John Fitzgerald Acting CEO,

Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) 

Reference: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/Media-Centre/Media-Releases-by-Topic/Alcohol-and-drugs/Victorians-call-for-health-labelling-on-alcohol-products.aspx