Abstract: alcohol consumption in the UK has increased rapidly in recent years, not just among young people, but across society. The population is drinking in increasingly harmful ways and the result is a range of avoidable medical, psychological and social harm, damaged lives and early deaths. As consumption has increased, the market for alcohol has grown substantially. This has been driven by vast promotional and marketing campaigns with the UK alcohol industry spending approximately £800m annually. alcohol marketing communications have a powerful effect on young people and come in many forms. These include traditional advertisements on television through ubiquitous ambient advertising to new media such as social network sites and viral campaigns. The cumulative effect of this promotion is to reinforce and exaggerate strong pro-alcohol social norms. Beyond marketing communications companies use integrated consumer marketing strategies including pricing, distribution and product design to develop and manage brands. Stakeholder marketing, including partnership working and industry-funded health education, is also used by the alcohol industry as a means to influence policy makers and regulators. This report examines the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people. It aims to identify effective ways of protecting young people from the influence of alcohol promotion and marketing, thereby redressing the excessively pro-alcohol social norms to which they are exposed.

Abstract: The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health commissioned the Winterthur Institute of Health Economics and the Institute of Economic Research of the University of Neuchatel to undertake an economic evaluation of disease and accident prevention measures in Switzerland. The main objective of the study was the calculation of the economic return in the three prevention fields of tobacco, harmful use of alcohol, and road accidents with a common methodology. The main questions addressed with regard to prevention measures were: Do these measures work? And, if so, are they worth the money they cost? The main result is a positive return for every franc invested in health promotion and efforts for preventing road accidents, tobacco consumption and alcohol harmful use. The estimated return on investment varies between 9.4 for public road accident prevention programmes, 23 for alcohol prevention and 41 for tobacco prevention. The research has demonstrated the potential benefits of prevention measures; such efforts can deliver good value for money for society as a whole.