Alcohol Advertising and Teen Drinking: Research Review

Introduction: Advertising and Underage Drinking

How can the trend toward increased alcohol consumption among teenagers be reduced? The answer to this critical societal question is being addressed by a number of researchers, many of whom believe that advertising offers a potential explanation for the rise.

In 1999, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission called for the alcohol industry to modify its practices in order to limit underage exposure to alcohol advertising (FTC, 1999). According to a report by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY, 2002), however, the industry may not have responded adequately. According to guidelines announced in September 2003 by the Beer Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, underage youth should not constitute more than 30 percent of the audience for alcohol advertisements.

CAMY subsequently found that more than 25 percent of the radio commercials that aired for alcohol in the summer of 2003 would not have been in compliance with these revised industry marketing codes. Among the airings analyzed, 28 percent took place when underage listeners accounted for more than 30 percent of the audience. In 14 out of the 15 largest radio markets, underage listeners were more likely, on a per capita basis, to hear alcohol commercials than people over 21.

A growing body of literature has linked beer and alcohol advertising with adolescent drinking expectancies and behaviors (Aitken, 1989 and 1990; Austin & Knauss, 2000; Grube & Wallack, 1994; Kelly & Edwards, 1998; Martin et al., 2002). Although advertisers insist these commercials are targeted to adult drinkers, the messages frequently appear during television programs and in magazines seen or read by significant numbers of teenage viewers and readers. In addition, beer and alcohol advertisements often use tactics such as humor, youth-oriented themes, and young-adult actors or models — all of which increase their appeal to underage audiences.

Radio and Magazine Advertising Exposure Among Teenagers

CAMY worked with Virtual Media Resources, an independent media planning and research firm, to analyze 51,883 airings of 106 different alcohol ads. The ads aired in 104 markets across the country during June and July of 2003. Such advertisements most likely exert a strong influence on teenagers listening to the radio.

The study revealed that alcohol companies spent $590.4 million to place 471 beer and ale advertisements (8 percent), 4,748 distilled spirits advertisements (76 percent), 116 low-alcohol refresher advertisements (2 percent), and 904 wine advertisements (14 percent) in magazines in 2001 and 2002. As a result, in 2002, underage youth saw 45 percent more beer and ale advertising, 12 percent more distilled spirits advertising, and 65 percent more low-alcohol refresher advertising than persons 21 years and older, while seeing 69 percent less advertising for wine.

The disproportionate exposure to alcohol advertising may be especially significant for young girls. In 2002, for the first time, teenage girls were more likely than boys to have had a drink at least once in the past month. To test whether there was a positive relationship between increased advertising and the rise in drinking among teenage girls, Jernigan et al. (2004) measured girls' and boys' exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines and compared this exposure with that of legal-age persons. Alcohol advertisements in 103 national magazines were categorized by year, beverage type, and brand. Placement and readership age and sex data were then generated along with estimates of media exposure for the age groups 12 to 20, 21 to 34, and 21 years and older.

Girls aged 12 to 20 were more likely to be exposed to beer, ale, and low-alcohol refresher advertising than women in the 21–34 age group or women aged 21 and older. Girls' exposure to low-alcohol refresher advertising increased by 216 percent from 2001 to 2002, while boys' exposure increased 46 percent. The authors recommend that the industry take a serious look at these results and take the needed corrective action.

Gender Differences in Adolescent Alcohol Ad Exposure

Earlier studies on the correlation between advertisements and youth drinking have shown similar results. Thomsen and Rekve (2004) examined the impact of exposure to youth-oriented publications on normative beliefs about teenage drinking, drinking expectancies, and drinking frequency during 30 days among a group of 972 seventh- and eighth-grade students from two Western U.S. states. Three magazine categories were considered: music/entertainment, sports, and men's lifestyle. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect simultaneous influences of magazine exposure, religiosity, parental drinking, and the number of best friends who drink on three outcome variables — normative beliefs, drinking expectancies, and current drinking.

The study produced a number of findings:

Men's lifestyle magazine reading frequency was both directly and indirectly positively associated with normative beliefs about teenage drinking, expectations that drinking will bring about positive outcomes, and the number of alcoholic beverages consumed in the past 30 days.

Exposure to the most frequently read category — music and entertainment magazines — was positively linked with normative beliefs that teenagers drink and with drinking expectancies, but not with current drinking. However, this does not rule out a relationship with future drinking.

Conclusion and Policy Recommendations

Based on these findings, it appears that further reducing the amount of alcohol advertising on television and in magazines would have a positive impact on underage drinking rates. The less alcohol is advertised across all media, the better. Given the serious social costs of alcohol abuse and teen drinking, the federal government must begin to address these issues as seriously as it has addressed the problem of tobacco advertising and youth smoking.