Madam, - The primary objective, and inevitable result, of an alcohol advertising ban would be a reduction in drinking.
There would also be a secondary benefit: more competition for the very few companies controlling the drinks market in Ireland. New brewers and distillers which lack the financial clout and huge advertising budgets of the dominant concerns would be better able to enter the market and challenge the giants, whose marketing tactics, such as the promotion of alcopops and the like, have contributed to the rise in binge-drinking.
The effect of such increased competition would be both to bring prices down and bring quality up - expecially in the ale and lager market, where blandness reigns. - Yours, etc,
PETER EVANS, Percy Place, Dublin 4.