Royal Life Saving – Australia has courageously rejected a donation from a major alcohol company. 👏 Why? Because the primary aim of alcohol companies is to sell more of their products to young people – not to prevent them from drowning. As Royal Life Saving - Australia says, the alcohol industry has frustrated efforts to improve water safety for decades - much like many other public health reforms - as they flood areas around popular water activities with advertising. By saying no to this donation, Royal Life Saving - Australia has highlighted a tactic that many alcohol companies commonly use - to appear that they care about the very problem they are responsible for creating. In the last five years alone, alcohol consumption was a factor in more than 300 drowning deaths across Australia. FARE supports trusted and respected organisations like Royal Life Saving - Australia as they fight back against manipulative alcohol industry tactics. It’s what our families and communities deserve to keep us all safe around water. #WaterSafety #CommercialDeterminants #PublicHealth #Summer
Royal Life Saving – Australia was offered a large donation to endorse the Malibu ‘Don’t Drink and Dive’ alcohol advertising campaign. We declined the donation for several reasons. 1️⃣ Accepting funds to support a campaign aiming to sell alcohol to young people by leveraging concern for water safety clashes directly our values and sends a terrible message to the community. 2️⃣ While the private sector plays a key role in drowning prevention, alcohol advertising has frustrated water safety efforts for decades, especially when linked to recreational water activities. 3️⃣ The alcohol campaign from the UK is a cynical play on words linked to our campaign – Don’t Drink and Drown, first launched in 2005 and expanded to ‘Don’t let your mates drink and drown’ in 2017. (https://lnkd.in/gPXKh5Sg) 4️⃣ Alcohol consumption was a factor in more than 300 drowning deaths in the last five years. The highest rates (25–34-year-olds) are the key target market for this product. (https://lnkd.in/gSgX-Yjm) We take our leadership role in drowning prevention and water safety very seriously. The link between alcohol consumption and drowning is irrefutable. Alcohol consumption impairs judgement and reaction times, increases risk-taking, and reduces coordination and inhibitions. No amount of intoxication before or during water activity can be considered safe. Intoxication increases exposure to drunken falls and poor decision making around water. Reducing alcohol-related drowning is a priority area of the Australian Water Safety 2030. Royal Life Saving facilitated a forum to bring together experts on this topic in August 2024. The Alcohol and Drowning Prevention Forum concluded that system-level responses are needed, as raising awareness of the dangers was not enough to reduce alcohol related drowning. The recommendations included: ✅ Developing stronger laws to regulate and police alcohol industry advertising. Voluntary alcohol advertising guidelines are inadequate and ineffective. Compliance is low, with people regularly shown drinking around water activities, especially throughout summer. ✅ Establishing and enforcing laws that restrict alcohol consumption at and near designated publicly owned swimming areas must be considered for widespread adoption. ✅ Supporting robust, multi-pronged efforts to address and enforce laws relating to boating under the influence of alcohol. ✅ Compelling entertainment precincts to consider drowning exposures and vulnerabilities and take proactive preventative measures to protect patrons against drowning. Bringing diverse groups and views together to build solutions to drowning means listening to stakeholder views, and many are concerned about the negative role of alcohol advertising around water. We thank them for counsel and their commitment to drowning prevention. Justin Scarr Chief Executive Officer Read the full statement: https://bit.ly/4gms0Ir