The problem is with with alcohol imagery.
Anyone who keeps up with Coronation Street, Emmerdale or EastEnders will have their own routine for when their favourites are on – but this routine could soon be disturbed.
It’s been recommended that some soaps be broadcast after the watershed due to how much alcohol is shown in them.
Much of the action in British soaps centres around the local pub, while we’ve also seen numerous characters on drinking binges or even dealing with alcoholism over the years.
The “heavy alcohol imagery” in shows like Corrie and Eastenders could encourage people to drink, the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies has said.
The group’s researchers at Nottingham University watched 611 shows and 1,140 ads shown on British TV between the hours of 6 and 10 pm.
They found that half of the content featured alcohol and claimed that this can affect teenagers’ drinking habits.
“There is strong evidence that viewing alcohol advertising or imagery has an uptake on subsequent alcohol use in young people,” researcher Alexander Barker told The Sun.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, recommends that the UK’s television watchdog Offcom and the British Advertising Standards Agency ban alcohol imagery on TV before 9pm.
