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The French President François Hollande gets ready to cut the ribbon and declare VinExpo open tomorrow with a positive note and a ray of hope for the French wine producers, as the Parliament this week passed an amendment to the Evin’s Law (1991) that may soon allow a greater distinction between advertising and education.
The amendment, proposed by Republican senator Gerard César, a former winemaker, implies that the ban on advertising on wine and other alcoholic products will continue but educational articles and wine tourism may not be considered as breaking of law. As he tabled the motion, he reportedly said , “to talk about wine and its local soil in a press article is not the same as promoting alcohol. Wine is a product that accompanies a meal in an agreeable way, and is associated with gastronomy and has nothing to do with binge drinking.”
Any association between having a good time and drinking is a problem in France under the strict 1991 alcohol and tobacco publicity law known as the Loi Evin (Evin's Law), which banned the sponsorship of sports and cultural events as well. The law says only factual information can appear on the publicity of drinks - if the alcohol level is more than 1.2%. In its current form the law prohibits any inducement to buy or drink wine, advertising on television or in cinemas and strictly regulates advertising. Loi Evin is one of the strictest laws in Europe and is considered by most French winemakers as a major factor in the decline of domestic wine sales.
A lawsuit brought by the anti-alcohol lobby ANPAA against Moët Chandon for a publicity campaign it ran in 2003 featuring a pink bottle on a black background and the words, La Nuit est Rose (Night in Pink) resulted in a fine of €30,000 for one of the largest Champagne producers. The judgement ruled that the advertisement created an association between drinking pink Champagne and leading a wonderful life as the words ‘La Nuit est Rose’ recall the title of popular song, La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink), which the court said suggested having a wonderful life.
Reporting or advertisement on the internet has also not been acceptable. Barely a month before this case, the French court had ruled that Heineken must remove all advertising from its French website within three weeks, or face fines of €3,000 per day as reported by delWine then
King of Good Times, the surrogate Ad for Kingfisher Beer in India would have landed the King himself into court in France and perhaps also jail but he would certainly have had to cough up heavy fines. So would the propagators of several other surrogate Ads finding their way into the publicity domain.
Recent years have seen the law even more tightened with many French journalists uncertain of what they can write about wine and beer after key cases where Le Parisien (2007) and Paris Match (2012) reportedly received fines for penning editorials, according to a report in Decanter.
This amendment to be hopefully implemented soon would be good news for the Press in France, and for wine tourism bodies. For instance, the idea of chalking out a Wine Route, popular in a majority of wine producing countries, would no longer face a potential threat of being dragged to court. Interestingly, there was not much optimism about getting the law passed and many people have been surprised by the vote, but cross voting changed the pattern.
Vinexpo is the biggest wine show on earth and was started in 1981. It opens in Bordeaux from June 14-18 for its biennial edition |