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Who Do Alcohol Ads Think They Are Kidding?

More than $1 billion is spent on alcohol advertising each year via television, radio, magazines, billboards, and posters in public venues. Although many complex factors (parents, friends, other environmental influences) shape children’s attitudes about alcohol, there is a growing concern about the potential effects that alcohol advertising may have on young people. Studies indicate that children and adolescents who are more exposed to alcohol advertisements 1) believe that drinking is more likely to have positive consequences, 2) perceive higher levels of alcohol use by, and approval of, drinking by peers, 3) have greater intentions to drink in the future, and 4) have higher levels of alcohol consumption.

Research has found that beer advertisements on television are seen by children more than ads for distilled spirits, although ads for distilled spirits have increased since the ban was lifted in 1996. A study conducted in 1997 showed that nearly all beer ads were aired on television during sports programs, and about half were aired on the weekends – a time accessible to most children and adolescents. Advertisements for distilled spirits are more commonly seen in the print media, particularly in magazines that appeal to young people, such as Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek and Playboy. In a study involving 1,800 young people whose ages ranged from 15 to 26 years, researchers found that they were more exposed to alcohol advertisements on television than on radio, in magazines, or on billboards. The participants also reported a greater exposure to beer and distilled spirits advertising than to wine advertisements.

Studies indicate that ads for alcohol that include animals, animated characters, celebrities and youth-oriented music are appealing to young people. Researchers hypothesized that enjoying such an ad leads to more attention paid to it, resulting in a more accurate recall of the ad and messages it may contain.

In a study involving 5th- through 11th-graders, students were shown video-taped television beer and soft-drink ads. They were asked how much they enjoyed each ad in general, and how much they liked the features of the ad (music, animals, people, story and humor). They were also asked how often they had seen each ad before the study, as well as how much attention they paid to each ad if seen previously. The results showed that the most recognized beer ad, and the one most liked, featured a ferret and a lizard, contained rock music and images from a rock concert. This ad was liked by more respondents than was the most popular soft drink commercial, which featured skateboarders. The least-liked and least recognized beer commercial featured adult themes: train scenes, history of a brewery and quality of ingredients. The major findings of this particular study were that the enjoyment of alcohol advertising directly reflected current drinking levels and had significant indirect effects on drinking and future intentions to drink, indicating that alcohol advertising may, indeed, predispose young people to drink.

(Martin, SE, Snyder, LB, Hamilton, M, Fleming-Milici, F, Slater, MD, Stacy, A, Chen, M-J, and Grube, JW: Alcohol advertising and youth. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26: 900-906, 2002.) Corresponding author: Joel W. Grube, Prevention Research Center, 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Ste. 900, Berkeley, CA 94704.

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