Another Round for the Brewers: Television Ads and Children's Alcohol Expectancies¹

Abstract

In an experimental study of how beer commercials affect alcohol expectancies, 92 fifth graders watched 40 television ads that included either five beer commercials, five soft‐drink commercials, or five beer commercials plus two antidrinking messages. Afterwards, as an unrelated task, they completed the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire‐Adolescent Form (AEQ‐A; Christiansen, Goldman, & Inn, 1982). Exposure to different commercials produced no differences in drinking expectancies. The experiment was repeated on 74 eighth graders with similar null results; however, eighth‐grade girls more strongly believed (p <.02) that alcohol leads to deteriorated cognitive and behavioral function. In a comparison of fifth and eighth graders from the same school, eighth graders had significantly more positive scores on three AEQ‐A scales that tapped social/emotional expectancies. The failure of beer commercials to create positive alcohol expectancies is consistent with limited and null findings of previous investigations. Research to date does not support a ban on alcohol advertising.

Alcohol advertising and young people's drinking

“…Exposure to televised advertising could raise brand awareness and the latter in turn was linked to future drinking (Lipsitz, Brake, Vincent & Winters, 1993).…”

Alcohol, Advertising, Media, and Consumption among Children, Teenagers, and Young Adults

“…In a design that again manipulated controlled exposure to alcohol advertisements, no effect was found on the degree to which pre-teens and early teens expressed an intention to drink themselves in the future (Lipsitz, Brake, Vincent, & Winters, 1993).…”

Alcohol Portrayals in Movies: Now We Know They're There, What Next?

“…There is a growing body of research into the effects of alcohol advertising on young people, with a general level of agreement that there is an association between exposure and alcohol expectancies [6,7], between exposure and drinking intentions [7][8][9], and even between exposure and current or future drinking [10,11]. It is likely that alcohol portrayals in movies will have an even stronger effect on young people, particularly in relation to perceived social norms and alcohol expectancies.…”