alcohol
The slogan ‘You drink our craftsmanship with reason’ will disappear as a warning in alcohol advertising. It will be replaced by ‘Alcohol abuse damages health’. That’s what the sector says, but according to Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit), nothing has been decided yet.
It had already been announced in the interfederal alcohol plan that was approved last year: alcohol advertising would from now on be accompanied by a new health message, which should point out more clearly the dangers of alcohol. In the coming months, ‘You drink our craftsmanship with sense’ – or the variant ‘Beer brewed with love, you drink with sense’ – will be removed, the sector announced in a press release. From July 1, commercial messages for alcoholic beverages must be accompanied by the new warning ‘Alcohol abuse damages health’. An adjustment period until January 1, 2025 applies to printed matter with the old slogan.
Strangely enough, the office of Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) was not aware of this. “The new slogan has not yet been decided,” it said. “This is just a proposal that is being considered. The Superior Health Council is developing various options based on scientific evidence. The minister will ultimately decide, probably in April.”
Is the sector not sidelining the minister in this way? “Even before the alcohol plan, we were thinking about a new slogan,” says Geert Van Lerberghe, general manager of Vinum Et Spiritus, the Belgian federation of the wine and spirits sector. “We have implemented a new slogan based on the orientation of the alcohol plan. We informed the minister of this before Christmas, but he did not respond.”
