Alcohol Brand Use of Youth-Appealing Advertising and Consumption by Youth and Adults

Abstract

BackgroundYouth exposure to alcohol marketing has been shown to be an important contributor to the problem of underage drinking in the U.S. More work is needed on identifying and minimizing content with particular appeal to youth.Design and MethodsWe tested the association between the youth-appeal of marketing content of televised alcohol advertisements and the brand-specific alcohol consumption of both underage youth and adults. We used existing data from three sources: a brand-specific alcohol consumption survey among underage youth (N=1032), a brand-specific alcohol consumption survey among adults (N ~13,000), and an analysis of content appealing to youth (CAY) in a sample of televised alcohol advertisements (n=96) aired during the youth survey. The association between CAY scores for the 96 alcohol ads and youth (age 13-20) versus adult (age 21+) consumption of those ads’ brands was tested through bivariate and multivariate models.ResultsBrand CAY scores were (a) positively associated with brand-specific youth consumption after controlling for adult brand consumption; (b) positively associated with a ratio of youth-toadult brand-specific consumption; and (c) not associated with adult brand consumption.ConclusionsAlcohol brands with youth-appealing advertising are consumed more often by youth than adults, indicating that these ads may be more persuasive to relatively younger audiences, and that youth are not simply mirroring adult consumption patterns in their choice of brands. Future research should consider the content of alcohol advertising when testing marketing effects on youth drinking, and surveillance efforts might focus on brands popular among youth.Significance for public healthYouth are overexposed to alcohol advertising. This contributes to youth having positive expectations of drinking, initiating drinking, and drinking more in quantity and frequency. The alcohol industry’s self-regulatory guidelines stipulate that marketing content cannot be primarily attractive to youth versus adults. But we do not yet have a sound scientific tool to assess what would be primarily attractive to youth. This manuscript uses a new tool, the CAY index, and two large, nationally representative datasets of youth and adult drinking patterns and shows that alcohol brands’ use of such content in their advertisements is not associated with adult brand consumption but is positively associated with youth brand consumption over and above the influence of adult brand preferences. This is critical evidence for supporting revised industry guidelines in order to protect youth from the effect of advertising on underage drinking.

Recruiting the “Heavy-Using Loyalists of Tomorrow”: An Analysis of the Aims, Effects and Mechanisms of Alcohol Advertising, Based on Advertising Industry Evaluations

“…The key limitation is that these case studies are not a representative sample of advertising industry evaluations, that is, the nature of the sample means that it does not include evaluations of ineffective advertising campaigns. It is also unlikely that case studies will include examples of advertising which is clearly harmful, e.g., the targeting of underage drinkers, even though the role of alcohol marketing in youth drinking is well-documented elsewhere [56,57]. Furthermore, it is generally difficult to tell from the data whether campaigns really are competing for market share or are recruiting new drinkers – the meaning of terms like ‘new drinkers’ are unclear.…”

The sustainability in alcohol consumption: the “drink responsibly” frontier

“…In the literature, different authors agree on the fact that the advertising of alcohol influences the behaviour of the individuals starting from the pre-adolescence (Austin et al , 2006; Pasch et al , 2007), and that it has a considerable effect on its consumption during the adolescence (Anderson et al , 2009; Berey et al , 2017; Grenard et al , 2013; Padon et al , 2018; Saffer, 2002; Snyder et al , 2006). The advertising communication represents a lever of the marketing mix largely used by the companies operating in this field.…”

Availability, Promotion, and Signs of Alcohol Consumption: A Mixed Methods Study of Perceived Exposure and Objective Measures

“…However, the alcohol industry has found strategies to promote their beverages. Future interventions may enforce and strengthen the laws to protect the population from alcohol promotion exposure given its association with higher alcohol consumption [24,62,[66][67][68][69].…”