A Canberra man has launched a Federal Court bid to ban alcohol advertising during sporting events after the death of his brother.
Greg Spaul was just 23 years of age when he died after losing control of his car on a road he knew well. A farmer from NSW, Greg had developed an addiction to alcohol that he only leant further into as his life began to spiral out of control and he dealt with financial hardship.
Then 25, Greg’s brother, William, still remembers his shock at receiving the news. “I couldn’t imagine him dying like that; it was just a really distressing event for me,” he said in an interview with the ABC.
Spaul found himself struggling with the memory of his brother’s death every time he saw advertising for alcohol, which is common during major sporting events. He said he believed alcohol advertising had only compounded his brother’s addiction and that he was living within an “alcohol culture”.
Spaul has now taken his concerns to the federal court, lodging an application to compel the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to ban alcohol advertising during televised sports.
As it stands, alcohol advertising is banned on television before 8:30 p.m. and after 5 a.m., but these bans are lifted during sporting broadcasts.
A 2022 study into advertising of alcohol products in sports by the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE) found that the top 10 alcohol companies placed 10,660 alcohol ads during Australian sports broadcasts over a 12-month period. This amounts to an average of 75 minutes of alcohol advertising each week. Almost half (45 per cent) of the ads aired during children’s viewing times (before 8.30 pm).
“There shouldn’t be an association between alcohol and sport because there is no need, there’s no real connection, you don’t need alcohol to play sport, in fact, it reduces your sporting performance,” Spaul said.
In the application, Mr Spaul claims that ACMA is engaging in unlawful indirect age discrimination by not protecting young viewers from the advertising content. The application states that ACMA “is required to play an important and prominent role in ensuring that regulations affecting broadcasting provide appropriate community safeguards in respect of the subject matter of the regulations”.
Spaul said he was not trying to ban alcohol advertising altogether but wanted to do more on behalf of vulnerable young people who are struggling with addiction. “He [Greg Spaul] had a lot of ambitions and hopes and dreams,” he said. “He lost everything”.
According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, there is a problematic relationship between alcohol and sport in Australia. “In general, alcohol advertising normalises drinking and desensitises the community to the significant harm caused by alcohol use,” the foundation said.
Baseball Australia has renounced alcohol advertising and is joined in this stance by politicians, athletes and academics. The World Health Organization, Australian Medical Association, Royal Australasian Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons and the Public Health Association of Australia also support an end to alcohol sponsorship of sport.
ACMA was approached by the ABC for comment but said it could not comment on a matter currently before the court.
