Alcohol advertising is hardly regulated in Germany, which is why beer is omnipresent in football. The reason for this is an influential lobby that includes brewery associations – and also football clubs.
When the second goal was scored, the spectators in the Rot-Weiss Essen stadium let go of their restraint. They yell, dance, hug each other – and in the middle of the crowd stands the scientist Daniel Deimel and says: “Alcohol is a catalyst, it boosts moods in both directions. Euphoria can be felt right now, but it can also tip over.”
Deimel didn’t come to the stadium to see an exciting game – he is an addiction researcher and works for the Catholic University of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is interested in: Which drugs do they use? fans and in what quantities? That’s why he mingles with them fans.
Children and young people are introduced to alcohol
He says the main drug, of course, is alcohol, readily available, virtually unregulated, and very cheap. When Deimel arrives at Essen Central Station the morning before the game, the first ones are already there fans with beer bottles in hand.
An hour later at the stadium there are many of those waiting fans obviously already heavily intoxicated: red faces, alcohol smell, beer in hand. The concrete floor in front of the arena is covered with broken beer bottles and crumpled plastic cups.
Deimel says: “Because alcohol is handled in an absolutely normal way, children and young people who go to football are introduced to this experience.” There are few countries in the world where alcohol plays such an important role as in Germany. The consequences: Around 1.6 million addicts, 14,000 alcohol-related deaths every year, acts of violence under the influence of alcohol, traffic fatalities, damage to health.
Beer is omnipresent
The game in Essen is no exception – it is the rule. Every weekend, everywhere in Germany. In the Bundesliga alone, around 13 million celebrate every year fans in the stadium. Football is the ultimate advertising platform for the beer industry.
And both the breweries and the clubs feed the image: beer and football, the perfect one match. But is a disease-causing drug really the right advertising partner for a sport that promotes a healthy lifestyle?
In fact, football is massively dependent on breweries’ money. Every professional club in the first and second leagues is sponsored by a brewery, in the amateur leagues you can find beer advertising on jerseys or banners almost everywhere.
The sales of beer in the stadiums generate a huge turnover for breweries and clubs. An example: At a home game of FC Schalke 04, an average of 30,000 liters of beer are consumed in the stadium, which is half a liter per spectator. Minors and non-drinkers counted.
Advertising is hardly regulated
Unlike tobacco advertising, alcohol advertising in Germany is hardly regulated, there is only a so-called self-commitment of the advertising industry. And football and breweries are fighting together against stricter alcohol policy measures. How effective they are could be seen in Brussels earlier this year.
A special committee to fight cancer presented its final report in the EU Parliament. For a year, the participating politicians received scientific advice on the question: How can the high cancer rates in Europe be reduced? They drew up the final report based on the recommendations. Alcohol is considered to be very carcinogenic, so one of the proposed measures was to ban alcohol advertising in sports.
The lobby wins
But even before the vote, a massive campaign started together by breweries and football clubs from all over Europe. They wrote emails and letters to MPs warning that a ban on alcohol advertising would destroy football; a website went online that was explicitly aimed at politics, complete with a glossy commercial.
MEP Manuela Ripa (ÖDP), who worked on the report, says: “Fear was fueled.” With success: When the report came to the vote, all alcohol policy measures were weakened in the interests of the breweries. After the vote, there was no more talk of a ban on alcohol advertising. A triumph of the lobby.