Alcohol Marketing in India: #enoughNCDs Suneel Vatsyayan* The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Strategy identifies the importance of reducing the impact of marketing, particularly on young people and adolescents, as an important consideration in reducing harmful use of alcohol.It has been observed that alcohol use has escalated as one of the leading risk factors for global burden of disease. The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Bill, in force September 8, 2000, completely prohibits cigarette and alcohol advertisements. However, it is evident that we are living in a media dark era. The industry circumvents the bans on advertising by surrogate advertising, and the images in alcohol advertising have changed from voluptuous pin-ups (targeting the traditional market of middle-aged male consumers) to depictions of a ‘good life’, aimed clearly at women and youth. This is also an era of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where the promotion of
Young India Network is a youth (14-30 years) driven network for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and its risk factors, formed with a vision of having a meaningful involvement of youth and People Living With NCDs in the advocacy of health agenda in India with a primary focus on alcohol and drug use as major risk factors for both communicable and NCDs. It aims to contribute in achieving the Goal 3 of Sustainable Development Goals,ensuring healthy lives .