Houghton F. Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environ- ments in Ireland (Short report). SEEJPH 2021, posted: 05 May 2021. DOI: 10.11576/seejph-4395 P a g e 1 | 5 SHORT REPORT Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environments in Ireland Frank Houghton1 1 HEALR Research Group, Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland. Corresponding author: Dr. Frank Houghton; Address: HEALR Research Group, Limerick Institute of Technology; Telephone: + 353-(0)87-7101346; E-mail: Frank.Houghton@LIT.ie Houghton F. Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environ- ments in Ireland (Short report). SEEJPH 2021, posted: 05 May 2021. DOI: 10.11576/seejph-4395 P a g e 2 | 5 Abstract Alcohol branded Easter Eggs were observed in a mainstream Irish supermarket. The Public Health (Alcohol) Act, 2018 fails to deal with such child-friendly marketing. An amendment to the current legislation to counter this deficit is urgently required. The absence of such legislation is particularly notable given the longstanding inclusion of clauses to this effect in tobacco control legislation in Ireland. Keywords: alcohol branding, alcohol control, alcohol marketing, children, Easter eggs, Ireland. Conflict of interests: None declared. Houghton F. Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environ- ments in Ireland (Short report). SEEJPH 2021, posted: 05 May 2021. DOI: 10.11576/seejph-4395 P a g e 3 | 5 The term ‘Easter Egg’ to define a hidden message, image, or feature in a computer game, film, or other, normally electronic, me- dium, was coined by Steve Wright of Atari in the late 1970s (1). The irony therefore in spotting traditional chocolate Easter Eggs emblazoned with alcohol industry messaging on the shelves of a mainstream supermarket (Tesco, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary) in Ireland was significant. Two examples of such alcohol branded Easter Eggs were observed, positioned at a height of less than one metre, and surrounded by a selection of other well-known brands, including Cadbury’s Cream Eggs, Rolo, and Lion (see Figure One A-D). The alcohol brands noted were Baileys (cream, cocoa, whiskey liqueur) and Guinness (stout). Figure 1 (A-D). Guinness and Bailey’s Easter Eggs on Display A B C D Houghton F. Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environ- ments in Ireland (Short report). SEEJPH 2021, posted: 05 May 2021. DOI: 10.11576/seejph-4395 P a g e 4 | 5 Of particular concern was the Guinness Easter Egg, which featured not just its iconic dark livery and easily identifiable harp logo, but three ‘Guinness Chocolate Pints’ sweets as well (see Figure One D). The blatant defi- cit in the protection of children from alcohol advertising in the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 that allows such marketing is yet another inadequacy in this legislation that has been identified (2,3). Although Section 17 of the Act prohibits alcohol branding on chil- dren’s clothing, other goods are not subject to any such controls, even sweets and confec- tionary (see Table 1). Table 1. Section 17 of Ireland’s Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 17. (1) It shall be an offence for a person to— (a) manufacture, for sale in the State, (b) import, for sale in the State, or (c) sell to a person who is in the State, an article of clothing intended to be worn by a child, where the article promotes alcohol consumption or bears the name of an alcohol product or the trade mark, emblem, mar- keting image or logo, by reference to which an alcohol product is marketed or sold. An important parallel is the ban on sweets/candy that resemble tobacco products (Section 9 of Public Health [Tobacco] [Amendment] Act, 2004; Section 38 of Pub- lic Health [Tobacco] Act, 2002), which was introduced almost 20 years ago. Ireland’s laws on such tobacco marketing to children through candy and sweets align with Article 13 of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) influential Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It is evident that a similar prohibition on alcohol marketing is urgently required. Such marketing is particu- larly problematic given Ireland’s troubled re- lationship with alcohol (4,5), and in light of the proven impact of marketing, advertising, and sponsorship by the alcohol industry on adults, youths and children (6-8). A plethora of studies have also clearly demonstrated that children and youths in Ireland are in danger themselves of developing similarly problem- atic habits of alcohol misuse to those of adults here and so continuing the cycle (9). Youth and child alcohol misuse is of added concern because of research indicating the accentu- ated impact of alcohol on developing adoles- cent physiology and personality (10). It must be acknowledged that Easter Eggs featuring alcohol branding and logos are nei- ther innocent, nor inconsequential. Such coded marketing reinforces the ubiquitous nature of our intoxigenic environments. An amendment to the Public Health (Alcohol) Act, 2018, is urgently required to address this, and the many other deficits in the legis- lation that have been identified to date. Now is not the time for avoidant and timid political leadership on this issue. In the meantime, re- tailers should refrain from selling such alco- hol branded chocolate eggs, or failing that, restrict such sales to within the newly devel- oped alcohol section of their premises. It is also clear that continual vigilance by Public Health and alcohol control advocates is re- quired to combat the machinations of the al- cohol industry. Houghton F. Easter Eggs & ‘Easter Eggs’: Alcohol Branded Chocolate Eggs & Intoxigenic Environ- ments in Ireland (Short report). SEEJPH 2021, posted: 05 May 2021. DOI: 10.11576/seejph-4395 P a g e 5 | 5 © 2021 Houghton; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. References 1. Chuvaieva A. How to make a video game Easter Egg: legaltips and tricks. J Intell Prop L Pract 2019;14:864-75. 2. Houghton F, McInerney D. The Pub- lic Health (Alcohol) Act: Spatial is- sues and glaring gaps. Ir Geogr 2021;53:179-84. DOI: 10.2014/igj.v53i2.1423. 3. Houghton F, McInerney D. Sponsor- ship, Advertising & Alcohol Control in Ireland: The importance of both premises and products in regulating intoxigenic environments. Ir J Med Sci 2020;189:1035-7. DOI: 10.1007/s11845-019-02154-w. 4. Mongan D, Long J. Overview of al- cohol consumption, alcohol-related harm and alcohol policy in Ireland. HRB Overview Series 10. Dublin: Health Research Board; 2016. 5. Alcohol Action Ireland. An Over- view of Alcohol Related Harm; 2021. Available from: https://alco- holireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related- harm-facts-and-statis- tics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20re- sponsi- ble%20for%2088,of%20all%20sui- cides%20in%20Ireland (accessed: March 8, 2021). 6. Engels RC, Hermans R, van Baaren RB, Hollenstein T, Bot SM. Alcohol portrayal on television affects actual drinking behaviour. Alcohol Alcohol 2009;44:244-9. 7. Smith LA, Foxcroft DR. The effect of alcohol advertising, marketing and portrayal on drinking behaviour in young people: systematic review of prospective cohort studies. BMC Public Health 2009;9:1-11. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471- 2458-9-51 (accessed: March 8, 2021). 8. Houghton F, Scott L, Houghton S, Lewis CA. Children’s awareness of alcohol sponsorship of sport in Ire- land: Munster Rugby and the 2008 European Rugby Cup. Int J Public Health 2014;59:829-32. 9. ESPAD Group. ESPAD Report 2019: Results from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Luxembourg: EMCDDA Joint Publications, Publi- cations Office of the European Un- ion; 2020. 10. Ruan H, Zhou Y, Luo Q, Robert GH, Desrivières S, Quinlan EB, et al. Ad- olescent binge drinking disrupts nor- mal trajectories of brain functional organization and personality matura- tion. Neuroimage Clin 2019;22:101804. __________________________________________________________________________ https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-related-harm-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20responsible%20for%2088,of%20all%20suicides%20in%20Ireland