Paris anger at moves on wine adverts

A French government minister has denounced a parliamentary move to loosen the law restricting alcohol advertising, saying it could undermine efforts to combat alcoholism and prevent drink-driving.

“I am shocked,” Nicole Guedj, the secretary of state for the rights of victims, said at the weekend. Parliament’s attempt to change the law would “contradict all the educational efforts directed at those who do not understand that one cannot drink and drive”.

Ms Guedj was reacting to the adoption last week in the National Assembly of a series of amendments to the loi Evin to allow France’s troubled wine industry to promote its products more freely.

French wine producers said they were delighted by the proposed changes, which could permit them to promote the quality of their products and their regions. Advertising companies also welcomed the amendments, saying they were a useful clarification of an ageing and complex law.

The amendments will now be forwarded to the Senate, where they will receive their second reading in January.

Contrary to its popular image abroad as a land of bibulous libertarians, France boasts some of the most restrictive rules on alcohol and tobacco advertising in the world. Introduced in 1991, the loi Evin was intended to cut the number of alcohol- and tobacco-related deaths.

Particularly strict restrictions were placed on television advertising leading to several disputes with international advertisers. On one notorious occasion, players from Britain’s Newcastle United football club were forced to remove advertisements for Newcastle Brown Ale from their shirts when they played a French club.

Philippe Douste-Blazy, health minister, who has opposed the proposed changes to the law, said last week that alcohol abuse still caused 45,000 premature deaths in France a year. He estimated that 2m French people were dependent on alcohol while a total of 5m suffered from related social, medical, or psychological problems.

Medical experts have also dismissed suggestions that wine is a “soft” alcoholic product. They claim that two-thirds of all alcohol-related deaths are attributable to wine. A 10 per cent increase in wine consumption, they say, will kill up to 3,000 more people a year.

Claude Evin, the Socialist former health minister who introduced the law bearing his name, criticised the government for not doing more to defend the legislation in parliament. The pro-government UMP was the only party to vote for the amendments in the National Assembly. The centre-right UDF party abstained, while the Socialists and Communists voted against the text.

“One does not advertise out of philanthropy,” Mr Evin told the France Soir newspaper. “If one gives [advertising] more space, it is to increase consumption.”

However, many MPs have been sympathetic to the plight of France’s wine producers, hard hit by changing drinking habits and aggressive competition from New World brands. 

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