One of the biggest names in supermarkets has made a personal response to the accusations made by The Publican's Dump the Deals campaign.
Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King has written in response to a letter sent last month by The Publican editor Caroline Nodder to the big four supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons.
The letter asked the supermarkets to justify their use of alcohol as a loss leader and to end irresponsible promotions.
In his letter Mr King insisted that Sainsbury's is leading the way in the responsible retailing of alcohol - citing the company's chairmanship of the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group, the fact it is a signatory of The Portman Group's code of practice and stating that it was the first retailer to sign up to the Department of Health's voluntary new guidelines on alcohol labelling.
He also called on all parts of the drinks retail industry to work together on the issue of responsible drinking.
He wrote: "In the context of society's approach to alcohol and in helping to tackle the problem of binge drinking, it needs all of us - retailers, the government, on-trade and non-governmental organisations to help educate people about responsible drinking."
However, John Grogan MP, the man behind the Early Day Motion against supermarket pricing promotions in Parliament was unimpressed with Mr King's comments.
"I think Mr King doth protest too much. He has clearly avoided discussing irresponsible price promotions and has neglected to defend the practice of loss-leading with alcohol, which the Competition Commission concluded was widespread among supermarket retailers," Mr Grogan pointed out.
Mr King is the first chief executive of the big four supermarkets to comment on this issue following six weeks of lobbying and criticism from political circles as well as The Publican.
Letter sent to The Publican by Justin King
Dear Ms Nodder
Thank you for your letter dated 15 January regarding the promotion of alcohol in Sainsbury's stores. I would like to explain what Sainsbury's is doing to promote the responsible retailing of alcohol.
Sainsbury's takes a highly responsible role when promoting alcohol. Sainsbury's is a founder member of, and presently chairs, the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG), a group set up by the retail industry to coordinate and spread best practice in preventing the sale of alcohol to under-18s. As an example of its work RASG oversaw the creation and wide dissemination of the universal red and white 'Think 21" signage that now conveys a responsible message to customers and colleagues in around 17,000 retail outlets nationwide.
We are also a signatory to the Portman Group's code of practice on the advertising and promotion of alcoholic products and are currently in discussion with the Drinkaware Trust - the successor to the Portman Group's educational activities - about participation in their soon to be settled programme of activities.
We are increasingly promoting the advantages of matching alcohol with food supported through extensive marketing in store - point of sale, tip cards and national TV and press advertising. We are also trialling specifically trained store colleagues who can help educate customers on beers, wines and spirits and the importance of responsible drinking.
You may have seen recently that we are the first retailer to follow the proposed Department of Health voluntary new guidelines on alcohol labelling. This industry leading decision will ultimately result in all our own label beers, wines and spirits carrying full unit information and encourage sensible drinking through informed choices. Other steps we have taken include no longer selling super strength lagers in our small convenience stores and the removal of all 'shot' products.
As a member of the RASG we fully support the Government's alcohol harm reduction strategy, and introduced a 'Think 21' policy in 2005. This means all colleagues are trained to check the age of anyone buying alcohol if they look 21 years old or younger.
In the context of society's approach to alcohol and in helping to tackle the problem of binge drinking, it needs all of us - retailers, the government, on-trade and non-governmental organisations to help educate people about responsible drinking.
Yours sincerely,
Justin King