Bottleshops and 'ready-to-drink' alcoholic beverages.

ISSUE ADDRESSED

To assess whether the strategies used to sell the 'ready-to-drink' (RTD) category of alcoholic beverages is contributing to alcohol-related harm among adolescents.

METHODS

An initial investigation of bottleshops, which included an observational study designed to analyse methods employed by the liquor industry to market RTDs in bottleshops, on the central coast of New South Wales. We measured the number of glass-door display refrigerators to determine refrigerated space allocated to display RTDs compared with other alcoholic products. This measure was used to establish a quantitative baseline as an indicator for the in-store marketing of these products. We then randomly selected a dozen bottleshops from those previously visited and conducted semi-structured interviews with the staff.

RESULTS

The display of colourful, youth-oriented products and packaging in glass-door display refrigerators appears to be the primary in-store method for marketing RTD products. More than 40% of all glass-door display refrigerators in bottleshops on the central coast are dedicated to the storage and display of RTDs. More than half of the staff interviewed at bottleshops reported they believed that RTD products were marketed to under 18s, particularly girls.

CONCLUSION

There is already a high level of consumption of RTDs by under 18s. There is very strong marketing of these products by the liquor industry. This trend will further compound the already high-risk level of consumption of these products by young people.