Dr. Patrick Kenny:

On the issue of companies trying to win market share from competitors, that is absolutely one of the main aspects of what marketing is about. There are two other segments, namely, attracting those who have not yet started to consume the product and retaining those customers who are already consuming it. That is a natural marketer's perspective, to consider these three target audiences. I refer members to a report commissioned by the British Parliament which, through a process of discovery, got its hands on a lot of documentation from the alcohol industry in the United Kingdom. That documentation was examined to determine the type of market research the companies were conducting. In some instances, it was discovered that they were conducting that research with 15 year olds. The report is entitled, They'll Drink Bucket Loads of the Stuff, which is a reference to one of the internal memos discovered. I can forward the report to the committee if it would be helpful. I am not at all saying this is the case in Ireland, but it is worth looking at what was done in the United Kingdom. Nobody can say what is the intention of any marketer, but from a general perspective, as I said, there are three target audiences and the report in the United Kingdom is very interesting.