BSA ruling - Studentville - C4

Studentville covered the 2007 "Uni Games" at Canterbury University. The games involved students from New Zealand universities participating in a variety of sporting events.

Students were shown drinking and at various levels of intoxication. Many students spoke about having drunk to excess the night before their sporting events.

The complainant described the programme as a 30-minute advertisement for binge drinking. He also observed that Studentville had two logos, one, a beer bottle shown to the sound of a belch, and the other, a banner saying "Warning - Stop what you are doing. Your pub needs you". In his view, the message of the programme was "have fun by binge drinking".

The BSA found that the programme advocated liquor consumption in breach of the liquor standard by presenting the consumption of liquor in a positive light and as a necessary part of attending the Uni Games. Further, the consumption of excessive amounts of liquor was portrayed as being enjoyable and acceptable. In the Authority’s view, this was particularly inappropriate given that C4 targets an audience between 15 and 29 years of age, many of whom fall within the demographic seen to be at risk from binge drinking.