Members of the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) spent last Thursday night (27th April) hosting a ‘Bar to the Future’ at a superheroes themed At-Bristol After Hours event. Four beers were showcased in the bar with novel labels that included different unit, calorie or health-related messages. Attendees rated the taste of each beer and then had small group discussions about what information should be placed on alcohol products.

The event was a valuable opportunity to hear the public’s perspective on what they would, and would not, like to see on labels and develop ideas to explore in forthcoming focus groups. There was a lot of support for improving unit labelling and putting this information into the context of low risk drinking guidelines. People recognised the potential for serious health messages, such as the link between alcohol and bowel cancer, to have a strong impact, and thought it was important to know this information, but some thought that labelling of this kind on alcohol products might be going too far.

Leave your comments and tell us what you think about alcohol labelling.

Do you know how much you drink or the impact that alcohol has on your health?

Would health messages about cancer make you drink less or are you more concerned about the immediate consequences of drinking?