Alcohol Advertising, Effects of

Research has established that children and adolescents see a great deal of alcohol advertising and that more [Page 91]frequent exposure is associated with alcohol use. It has been more difficult, however, to determine whether more frequent exposure causes alcohol use. Recent studies increasingly make it appear that a causal link exists. Perhaps more importantly, scholars have begun to identify the conditions under which exposure to alcohol advertising predicts alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors. Generally, scholars believe that repeated exposure to alcohol advertising influences children to the extent to which their interpretations of messages lead them to conclude that alcohol use is normative, appealing, and rewarding. Effects are magnified if messages are reinforced by real-life observations.

Studies have verified that children's exposure to alcohol advertising begins early and greatly increases as they reach adolescence. Three of every four beverage ads in magazines and video programming popular among adolescents promotes an alcoholic beverage. Research indicates that alcoholic beverage advertisers spent more than $30 million to place more than 2,600 ads for alcoholic beverage advertising on the 15 television programs most popular with teens in 2003. The number of ads appearing in programs for which 12–to-20-year-olds composed more than 30% of the audience increased by 48.3% between 2001 and 2003. As a result, the average young person saw two beer ads for every three viewed by an adult in 2003, and three ads for fruit-flavored distilled spirits—commonly called alcopops—for every four ads seen by an adult.

Experiments and surveys with children and adolescents have found that those attracted to beer advertising are more likely to desire merchandise featuring beer themes and alcohol brand logos. The appeal of the merchandise is associated with earlier and more frequent use of alcoholic beverages.

It seems likely that young people would be influenced by such a torrent of messages. It is well established that commercial advertisers can influence children with strategies that show how products can meet their emotional needs and desires. For example, marketers recommend using young girls' desire for beauty, glamour, and fun to target them, and they recommend advertising that depicts power, bravery, or gross humor to target boys.

Marketers frequently employ these themes in alcohol advertising. It is unsurprising, then, that alcohol ads are well received by adolescents. Research indicates, for example, that 16- and 17-year-old adolescents, and especially boys who drink, like alcohol advertising featuring humor and sex, can correctly identify alcoholic beverage brands, and can recall the advertising specifically associated with each brand.

Meanwhile, many studies have indicated that, as young people's exposure to alcohol advertising increases, the likelihood of their experimentation with alcohol increases as well. The association between exposure and behavior, however, does not prove on its own that alcohol advertising influences children to become underage drinkers. Moreover, not all studies have found this association. Scholars therefore have turned their attention to the conditions under which children and adolescents internalize problematic messages about alcohol use. Studies have established, for example, that children develop expectations and intentions about alcohol use well before they begin drinking it.

Research indicates that preadolescent children are uniquely susceptible to the influence of advertising messages because they lack the cognitive skills of older children and are skillfully targeted by advertisers. Because children are still developing their critical thinking skills at least until the eighth grade, they tend to respond easily to characters that are strong, fun, popular, and attractive. Studies show that the techniques marketers recommend for use with children—and to which scholars show that children are susceptible—frequently are present in alcoholic beverage advertising. Indeed, many studies have verified that alcohol ads that include these elements appeal to children and adolescents. Some studies, including one [Page 92]that asked underage drinkers if they thought they were targets of the ads, have concluded that advertisers intentionally target underage viewers.

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