by Ed Vitagliano
A new study says the nation's young people are exposed to advertisements for beer and ale more frequently than ads for youth-oriented products, such as soft drinks, fruit juices, snack foods, or jeans. The study was released by Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY).
The problem stems from the types of television programs on which beer and ale ads often appear. The study cited a 1999 Federal Trade Commission report that said the alcohol industry's voluntary guideline “permits placement of ads on programs where the underage audience far exceeds its representation in the population.”
Of the more than $811 million spent in 2001 on television alcohol ads, 86% was spent on advertisements for beer and ale products. The researchers found that “[b]ecause of the placement of the commercials, almost a quarter of alcohol advertising on television in 2001 was more likely to be seen by youth than adults.” In the study, “youth” was defined as referring to young people under the legal drinking age.
CAMY researchers focused on 208,909 ads that aired on network, cable and local broadcast programming. The report found that alcohol advertisements reached 89% of the youth audience, who on average saw 245 alcohol ads. However, the study said, “the 30% of youth who were most likely to see alcohol advertising on TV saw at least 780 ads” in 2001.
A spokesman for the Beer Institute, a trade group, told USA Today that the implication that alcohol advertisers target young people with their spots was false. Instead, the source said, society should support programs that are successful in dealing with the problems of underage drinking “instead of wasting valuable time censoring advertising to adults of legal drinking age.”
The report concluded by saying, “Research studies have found that exposure to and liking of advertisements affects young people's beliefs about drinking, intentions to drink, and actual drinking behavior.”
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
