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Published on December 11, 2007

With polls scheduled for December 23, Narong said the ministry wanted to the bill to be approved and become law before the current legislative assembly's term expires.

Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said the ministry had to control the advertising of alcohol products on television because its research showed that they increased the number of new drinkers, particularly teenagers.

He accepted that the measure would be hard for the ministry to implement because of the huge profits at stake for both the alcohol and advertising businesses, saying that was why the NLA had discussed the draft bill many times.

The debate in the NLA has focused on Article 31 of the bill, which proposes a ban on all forms of alcohol advertising on television.

The Health Ministry temporarily withdrew the bill last month after a divisive debate over whether TV and radio advertising of alcohol should be banned round the clock or be allowed from midnight to 5am, and whether to allow such advertisements with "non-persuasive content" to be broadcast at any time.

The debate started when NLA member Somkiat Onwimol asked the NLA chairman to interpret Article 31 of the draft to permit the advertising of alcohol products. Somkiat reasoned that he wanted Thais to grow up with the intelligence and maturity to know their responsibilities when they drink alcohol. "Thais have to learn by themselves about drinking and social responsibility. Even if alcohol products are shown on TV, if people are strong enough to say no, they will not drink," he said.

Moreover, he said it would be of economic benefit for Thailand to permit cooperatives to advertise their products on TV, and for the advertising business, because some advertisements send a good message to the public and are of benefit to society.

According to Na-rong, the Advertise-ment Association of Thailand's figures show that the ad business gained Bt100 billion from all TV advertising while its income from alcohol companies was only Bt2.5 billion, or roughly 2 per cent of the entire advertising revenue.

He said alcohol companies contributed so little to the total advertising that a total ban on alcohol ads on TV would not affect the ad industry.

Neither Narong nor Somkiat would confirm allegations that alcohol firms were lobbying NLA members to reject the bill.

Narong said he did not know about the matter, while Somkiat said it did not matter if alcohol firms were trying to lobby NLA members because this was democratic and it was the duty of the taxpayer.

Pongphon Sarnsamak

 The Nation