Posted: November 30 2009

An e-mail promotion by the UCD Students’ Union Ents Office was found to have breached the MEAS Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks recently.

The e-mail, sent to UCD students, stated:

“UCD Ents Presents Black Week…
Monday 7th Sept. – Black Monday
UCD Ents suggests…
BREAKFAST – Couch, (Can of dutch/bottle of buckfast)
LUNCH – Student Bar, UCD (Fosters)
DINNER (Pint of guinness/bottle of vodka)

AFTERPARTY

Some shitty little place that sells booze after hours
Drink til you puke/pass out with your shoes on/get cocks drawn on face
His/hers/yours (for a tug)

Morning after

Regret/Hangover/Who the fuck is he/she
Wednesday 9th Sept. -
The Official UCD Ents Junior Cert Results Party w/ Bodyrox @ The Student Bar (Yeah! Yeah!) - come and celebrate Junior Cert Results Night in the bar with more alcohol than you drank when you actually got your Junior Cert Results!! (Tickets 5 euro)
Sunday 13th Sept. -
residENTS presents - Centre Club Sundays - Drop the bags, down the pints - start your week as you mean to go on!
Tickets for all gigs available @ www.ucdents.com
REMEMBER YOU'RE HERE FOR A GOOD TIME - NOT A LONG TIME!”

The Panel noted that the MEAS Guidance Notes on Point of Sale Promotions and Materials and Serving of Multiple Drinks state that “promotions…identified and agreed to be those that should not be run as they are either unlawful, or entail a disproportionate risk that they will lead directly to alcohol misuse and anti-social behaviour” include “drinking games – these tend to encourage either rapid drinking or the drinking of large quantities of alcohol and therefore should not be run”…”promotions that encourage or reward the purchase of drinking large quantities of alcohol in a single session”… “promotions that encourage either an excessive drinking session or a pub crawl”.

The promotion ran from 7th to 13th September this year and the Panel noted the overall tenor of the e-mail and in particular the aspects of the promotion that referred to the “Afterparty” and “Junior Cert Results Party”. The Panel felt that these specific aspects of the promotion suggested an association with anti-social behaviour and sexual prowess.

The Panel also considered that the e-mail encouraged students to engage in excessive alcohol consumption, not only in specific venues and on specific days, but right across the entire week and on an ongoing basis.

But the Panel was pleased to note the correspondence from the UCD Students’ Union President which stated that the e-mail “content was inappropriate”, “did not follow [the Students’ Union] standard communications procedures” and that “a review of procedures would take place to ensure that it would not happen again.”