High On The Social Spirit

Wise words. And surprise, surprise, they come not from any public health department, but from the Tempters themselves. Liquor companies, in a burst of self-righteousness, are now advocating restrictive drinking. I used to feel that drinking is the mark of a man. Now I feel more like a man every time I turn down a drink, proclaims a rehabilitated alcoholic in an ad published by Seagram, the American multinational liquor giant. Back home, Vijay Mallya of United Breweries makes a personal appearance telling drinkers: I love to party as much as you do. But I believe you should know your limits and have the courage to say no.

Whatever happened to skull-and-crossbones style statutory warnings? Why're liquor companies no more relying solely on the proxy of soda, snacks, mineral water or designer glasses to promote their products? Why are they opposing their self-interest?

Because it's serious business now. Liquor companies see no contradiction between advocating restrictive drinking and selling their products. We've been promoting responsible drinking since as far back as 1934. It's not against our self-interest to counsel moderation. On the contrary, it would be a folly to do otherwise, says Ashok Swarup, vice-president, Seagram.

Sonjib Mukarjee, who has worked closely as an entry strategist for liquor companies in India, is in complete agreement. When you deal in a product like alcohol with wide-ranging implications for health, family life, family budget, work life and violence, you just have to factor in social responsibility costs. Or else, you end up paying millions of dollars in legal settlement as happened in the case of the tobacco industry in the West.

Consider this:

• A study of 87 suicide cases in Madras found that 12.5 per cent of females had committed suicide because of maladjustment with alcoholic husbands;
• Today more than 25 per cent of the admission to the Institute of Mental Health in Madras are people with alcohol problems. A decade ago this figure stood at 0.1-3 per cent;
• A study comparing the family budget of drinkers with those of non-drinkers revealed that non-drinkers spend 8 per cent more on food, 30 per cent more on clothing, 168 per cent more on health care and, significantly, 300 per cent more on children's education.

Besides, guesstimates reveal that some 60 per cent of liquor sales in the country are of illicit liquor. In high-consumption states like Punjab, this figure goes up to a dangerous 86 per cent. Result: about 300 people die every year of alcohol abuse; many more deaths go unrecorded. The irony is that the organised sector has to pay for the sins of the unorganised sector. But we acknowledge the need to make consumers aware of the need of responsible alcohol use, says Vijay Rekhi, president, UB group.

Traditional attitudes towards alcohol have been ambivalent, ranging from prohibitive and negative to actually idealising intoxication as a ruling class privilege. Alcohol consumption therefore has never become integrated into normal, everyday life. A recent nine-country survey conducted by the World Health Organisation revealed that Indian respondents had trouble conceptualising normal drinking.

Alcohol policies in the country have so far swung from total prohibition to unrestricted sale with no controls. Mass movements like the anti-arrack agitation by poor neo-literate women in Andhra Pradesh and Haryana led to total prohibition, and revocation soon after. The excuse: loss of revenue, cost of policing, corruption in enforcement and illicit distilling.

More and more liquor companies are realising that if they want a stake in a mammoth industry that contributes a staggering Rs 18,000 crore to the exchequer and is growing at a steady rate of 15 per cent, they need to build a stake in public concerns like teenage drinking, alcoholism, drunken driving, domestic violence and financial disruption. The confrontationist relationship these companies have shared with the media, community health bodies, social welfare groups and the government has to be eased if growth has to take place.

Hence a flurry of self-disciplining and self-policing initiatives from the industry. The Confederation of India Alcoholic Beverages Companies (CIABC), has in fact ratified a code of practice which stipulates that no marketing communication for alcoholic beverages will break the following rules:

• Encourage excessive intake of alcohol or show abstinence/moderation in poor light;
• Use minors as models or consumers;
• Use high alcohol content as an enticing factor;
• Show correlation of alcohol with sexual success;
• Link drinking with driving or hazardous activity;
• Project alcohol as a stimulant or a sedative or beneficial for mental or physical prowess;
• Suggest correlation to religious activity;
• Feature bottles or people drinking alcohol while promoting items with brand names;
• Be aired before 9 pm with the exception of brand flashes in sponsorships.

The ciabc has also set up a four-member panel to ensure that all advertisements adhere to the above code. The idea is not to give anyone a chance to pick holes, says Pramod Krishna, ciabc secretary-general.

In another first-of-its-kind initiative, eight leading alcohol makers in the country have joined hands to fund a Society for Alcohol and Social Policy Initiative (saspi) which has a three-point agenda: research, education and awareness-building on alcohol issues. Says saspi secretary general Moyna Singh: For far too long we've been taking a reactive approach to alcohol abuse in the form of crisis intervention after the damage has been done. What we need is a more proactive approach in tackling alcohol use so that a crisis situation is prevented.

So far the only source of information on alcohol abuse have been mental morbidity surveys or sporadic studies on specific groups and areas. saspi would work on multicentred collaborative research on widely representative samples in a more holistic approach and collect more robust data to enhance. It has already commissioned a pilot study to ascertain attitudes on alcohol use. We have tended to follow an abnormal model of alcohol consumption because no child in an average Indian family is taught how to drink normally, says Singh. saspi would work towards promoting a healthy awareness in attitudes towards alcohol and problems stemming from misuse.

saspi would endeavour to develop policies, practices and interventions so that the country has a comprehensive national policy sensitive to the cultural realities, the history of drinking practices and at the same time protects the various legitimate interests. You need a middle path strategy involving popular support and professional cooperation, says Krishna.

The detractors, as is their wont, would disagree. Faced with a stagnating market abroad with growth limping at 2-3 per cent, the pro-liquor lobby is pumping big money into India where the liquor market is growing at a fast clip of 12 to 15 per cent. Hence the social initiatives, says one sceptical social activist.

Liquor companies may also be fearing a threat to their activities from the cultural zealots and puritanical elements that are resurfacing under the new bjp regime, feel a few others. After all, alcohol abstinence is a deep-rooted value in the Indian culture; drinking something associated with a Western way of life. There's no dearth of political busybodies for whom banning of liquor is a convenient vote-grabbing catchet. Former information minister Sushma Swaraj's recent move to a total ban is a case in point.

Whatever the motives behind the liquor barons' social turn, these initiatives, if they create a heightened awareness on moderate drinking, enable the industry to grow in consonance with government policy and protect public interest, there's no reason for complaint. Haven't the Portman Group in the UK, the Century Council in the US, created an effective system of checks and balances? Why can't we?