Alcohol Advertising as a Factor in Underage Drinking

Introduction

Alcohol abuse is a serious issue throughout the world. Many people have been injured and killed as a result of alcohol abuse. Alcoholism also has a negative impact on families and society as a whole. There are many questions surrounding the reasons why people drink excessively. The abuse of alcohol is particularly disturbing amongst young people who drink illegally (McClure, 2006). Underage drinking is a major problem that can lead to serious consequences and the use of hard drugs. Some people believe that underage drinking is partly driven by advertisements geared toward young people. The purpose of this discussion is to critically evaluate evidence suggesting that alcohol advertising and promotion is a contributory factor in the initiation and maintenance of underage drinking.

Advertisements and Underage Drinking

Drinking among underage people is problematic because of the severity of its consequences (Saffer & Dave, 2006). According to Snyder et al. (2006), "Drinkers younger than 21 years, who consume approximately 20% of all alcoholic drinks, imbibe more heavily than adults per drinking episode and are involved in twice as many fatal car crashes while drinking. The problem is getting worse, with youth initiating drinking at an earlier age on average than they did in the past." This means that when underage individuals drink, they consume more alcohol per episode than adult drinkers. Additionally, underage drinkers are more likely to be involved in fatal car accidents. The problem is compounding as the average age at which young people begin drinking continues to decline.

For many years, researchers have attempted to uncover the reasons for underage drinking, and their investigations have led to scrutiny of alcohol advertisements. In 1999, the Federal Trade Commission asserted, "While many factors may influence an underage person's drinking decisions, including among other things parents, peers and the media, there is reason to believe that advertising also plays a role" (Self-Regulation in the Alcohol Industry, 1999). Since that time, numerous studies have found that underage alcohol consumption can be correlated with alcohol advertisements that target youth.

Martin et al. (2002) explain that the notion that advertising affects alcohol use among underage people is grounded in the straightforward belief that advertising works. The authors assert that if advertising did not work, companies would not continue to spend enormous sums each year promoting their products. In their study of the effect of alcohol advertisements on youth aged 15 to 26, Snyder et al. (2006) investigated how much alcohol advertising exists and whether exposure to such advertisements matters to young people in that age range.

The authors report that over a billion dollars is spent each year advertising alcohol products. An analysis from 1997 found that the majority of alcohol advertising expenditure went to television. Beer advertisements were the dominant type of alcohol advertising on both television and radio. The research also found a substantial likelihood that youth would encounter beer advertisements on television. Data gathered in December of 1997 revealed that most nationally broadcast beer advertisements aired during sports programs. In fact, approximately half of all beer advertisements shown on television air on Saturday and Sunday during sports programming — programs frequently viewed by children and underage individuals.

These findings regarding the prominence of alcohol advertisements in the media illustrate the extent to which underage audiences are exposed to portrayals of alcohol use. It is unclear whether alcohol companies are fully aware of the proportion of young viewers seeing their advertisements. The fact that children encounter these advertisements during sports programming may be coincidental, since adult males are also a primary target audience and sports broadcasts are a logical advertising venue from a business standpoint. On the other hand, many adult males watch sports with their children, meaning children are exposed to alcohol messaging at a younger age than may be appropriate. This exposure could contribute to earlier initiation of alcohol consumption. Companies should therefore be more mindful of when and where these advertisements are placed.

Returning to the question of whether exposure to alcohol advertisements matters to youth aged 15 to 26, Snyder et al. (2006) found that exposure to alcohol advertising leads to greater self-reported alcohol exposure, which in turn results in higher alcohol consumption. This relationship holds for both young people and older individuals. The effect was examined by comparing markets with higher levels of advertising to those with lower levels. Within the United States, some amount of alcohol advertising reaches all markets through national campaigns; however, local campaigns mean that certain regions receive considerably more advertising than others. This variation allows researchers to assess the incremental effect of local advertising beyond the baseline established by national campaigns. As Martin et al. (2002, p. 902) explain, "If the national advertisements already reach some critical threshold of effects, then the amount of advertisements in each market may not contribute much to either self-reported exposure or to alcohol use."

Another relationship examined in models of alcohol advertising effects involves self-reported exposure to advertising and alcohol use. Some literature has found a small relationship between advertising exposure and alcohol use among teens, children, and college students (Adlaf and Kohn, 1989; Aitken et al., 1988; Atkin et al., 1983, 1984, as cited in Martin et al., 2002, p. 902). However, a significant methodological challenge arises from the question of directionality: do alcohol advertisements cause drinking, or does drinking cause greater attentiveness to advertisements? It is possible that advertising stimulates a desire to drink among youth; it is equally possible that young people who already consume alcohol pay more attention to alcohol advertisements, producing the same observed correlation without a causal advertising effect.

Research Evidence on Advertising Exposure and Youth Alcohol Use

To investigate the reciprocal effects between alcohol advertising and drinking among adolescents and young adults, Martin et al. (2002, p. 902) tested a longitudinal model incorporating three time points. As the authors describe:

"Market advertising levels were computed from the total advertising expenditures on television, radio, newspapers, and billboards per market for the prior 6 months, by use of industry data. Self-reported exposure consisted of a battery of items on the youth survey asking about exposure in the last 4 weeks to distilled spirits and beer advertisements. Alcohol use was measured by combined frequency, quantity, and maximum quantity items for any alcoholic beverage in the last 4 weeks (or 6 months for infrequent drinkers)."

The results found that market-level advertising could be correlated with a small positive effect on self-reported exposure to advertising, and that this exposure was in turn associated with increases in use. Importantly, there was no evidence that use caused increases in exposure. Increases in alcohol use were also connected to certain life experiences and activities — specifically, more hours worked, higher levels of education, and non-African-American racial identity. The model for underage youth aged 15 to 20 reflected results similar to those for the broader 15-to-26 age group (Martin et al., 2002, p. 902).

Overall, the researchers concluded that alcohol advertising is prevalent at both national and local levels in the media. Furthermore, following the removal of the ban on distilled spirits advertising, the number of alcohol advertisements on television and radio has grown at an alarming rate — a rate of growth that affects young people disproportionately due to their high levels of television consumption. Young people aged 15 to 26 were able to recall their exposure to many alcohol advertisements, particularly those seen on television. As Martin et al. (2002, p. 902, citing Snyder et al., 2006) summarize:

"The amount of alcohol advertising in each market had a small positive effect on self-reported exposure. This effect was over and above any effect resulting from national advertisements. The more alcohol advertisements that were played in each market, the more youths reported exposure to alcohol advertisements. Seeing more advertisements had a stronger effect on drinking than drinking had on noticing advertisements. The effect of alcohol advertising exposure on youth drinking was small and positive. The advertising effects were similar for the subset of underage respondents."

In addition to Snyder et al. (2006), other researchers have examined the impact of alcohol advertisements on underage youth. Jernigan et al. (2005), in their study "Alcohol Advertising and Youth: A Measured Approach," examined the advertising practices of alcohol companies and the degree to which they expose youth to such advertisements, focusing on the 15-to-20 age group. The research found that most alcohol advertising occurred in venues where youth were more likely to see it than adults. The authors concluded that "much of this excess exposure of youth to alcohol advertising in the United States could be eliminated if alcohol companies would adopt a threshold of 15% (roughly the proportion of 12–20-year-olds in the population aged 12 and above) as the maximum youth audience composition for their advertising. Although adoption of such a threshold would still leave much youth exposure to alcohol marketing in such 'unmeasured' activities as sponsorships, on-premise promotions and campus marketing, it would assist alcohol companies in reaching their intended audiences more efficiently while reducing overall youth exposure to their advertising" (Jernigan et al., 2005, p. 312). These findings demonstrate that alcohol advertisements very likely reach underage viewers. This means that if alcohol companies were genuinely committed to protecting youth, advertising strategies exist that would reduce the likelihood of underage exposure while simultaneously improving the efficiency with which companies target their intended adult audiences.

Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion was to critically evaluate evidence suggesting that alcohol advertising and promotion is a contributory factor in the initiation and maintenance of underage drinking. The research indicates that underage youth are frequently exposed to alcohol advertisements, and that youth are actually more likely than adults to encounter such advertising because of where it is strategically placed. The investigation also found that youth are more vulnerable to these advertisements due to the developmental state of their brains, which heightens sensitivity to rewards and pleasure and diminishes appreciation of consequences. Given these findings, the volume of alcohol advertising encountered across television, the internet, and mobile phones measurably increases the likelihood that underage individuals will begin consuming alcohol and may escalate their consumption over time.