BREWERS TARGET YOUTHFUL EXCESS

Britain's biggest drink manufacturers yesterday warned that attempts to
reverse Britain's bingeing culture could take a generation, as they
launched the first national advertising to cut drunkenness in young people.

They also challenged the government to use television and cinemas to try to
make drunkenness as unacceptable as drink-driving, when they unveiled a £1m
campaign portraying excess as a sexual turn-off, a recipe for violence and
a route to depression.

The unprecedented attempt to change habits among the young follows concern
that Britons are among the worst offenders in Europe.

The Portman Group, funded by manufacturers to promote "sensible drinking",
estimates that more than one in six aged 18-24, or 1m young adults,
regularly drink simply to get drunk. Its poster and radio campaign follows
trials in Manchester last year and is expected to include hospital and GP
waiting rooms as well as pubs, bars, clubs and public transport. The group
will also ask fashion shops to put stickers on changing cubicle mirrors
with the message "You're drop dead gorgeous - so don't drop dead drunk."

Jean Coussens, director of the group, said: "This is a tough message to get
across. Occasional excesses are part of a normal learning curve. This
campaign is the start of a long haul to change the image of drunkenness and
the culture of excess around alcohol."

The group's members are Allied Domecq, Bacardi-Martini, Bulmers, Campbell
Distillers Pernod-Ricard, Diageo, Interbrew UK, Scottish and Newcastle, and
Seagram, but pub chains have also backed the campaign.

Ms Coussens said that the industry opposed drunkenness as much as any one,
but one campaign was not the answer: "We would be absolutely mad if we
thought this alone could change behaviour." Other partners, including the
government, would have to find funds for a whole range of campaigns and for
more expensive forms of advertising.