France cancels anti-alcohol campaign at Rugby World Cup

The French government decided at the last minute not to broadcast a campaign on alcohol consumption during the Rugby World Cup following pressure from the French wine lobby, according to NGOs, an investigation by Radio France revealed on Monday.

During the World Cup, which started in France last Friday, a prevention campaign on the risks associated with alcohol consumption was supposed to be released on billboards and television.

The campaign was ordered in November 2022 by the Direction générale de la santé (one of the departments of the Health Ministry) to national public health agency Santé Publique France (SPF). The campaign was ready, and the slogan “Don’t let alcohol knock you out” had been chosen.

But, according to Radio France, former Health Minister François Braun decided in May not to broadcast it, and instead went for another campaign targeting a younger audience, which will soon be out on social media.

It is not the first campaign on risks associated with drinking that has been cancelled in 2023 in France, as Braun said no to another with the message “drinking alcohol multiplies the risk of heart rhythm disorders,” according to an investigation by Le Canard Enchainé that was published in July.

Myriam Savy, director of advocacy for Addictions France, reacted by blaming the French wine lobby and criticising “the pressure exerted by the alcohol industry on public authorities, in particular the Élysée Palace”.

In January, President Emmanuel Macron received a letter from the French wine lobby Vin & Société criticising the alcohol prevention campaign broadcasted by SPF during Christmas.

“This campaign doesn’t show any scenes of excessive alcohol consumption, just families and friends getting together, moments of sharing that unite several generations,” wrote Vin et Société, when the alcohol industry always makes the difference between alcohol consumption and abusive alcohol consumption.

The campaign “aimed at the general population who consume alcohol on a regular basis. We tell them ‘alcohol is a health risk. It’s a risk factor for cancer’. And the alcohol industry doesn’t like that”, Savy told Radio France, saying this is the reason why the new campaign will only target young people.

New Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau seems to follow the same path as Braun, who recently refused to broadcast an old prevention campaign from 2019 featuring messages such as “for your health, alcohol is a maximum of two drinks a day. And not every day.”

(Clara Bauer-Babef | EURACTIV.fr)

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