Magazine advertising of popular alcohol brands and underage drinking have some links, a new study shows.
Researchers explain that alcohol brands advertised in magazines are popular among underage drinkers. The study findings further strengthen the evidence that alcohol ads can influence minors to drink.
According to lead study author Craig Ross, the self-imposed standards on advertising by the alcohol industry are insufficient. "All of the ads in our study were in complete compliance with the industry's self-regulatory guidelines," said Ross, Ph.D., M.B.A., Natick, Mass., Virtual Media Resources.
Researchers state, as per the standards, alcohol ads should be placed only in magazines where less than 30 percent of the readers are younger than 21.
Ross and his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Boston University School of Public Health analyzed alcohol ads in U.S. magazines in 2011. They took into account the top 25 alcohol brands consumed by youngsters under the legal drinking age.
Their findings showed that these brands effectively reached young readers of the magazines compared to 308 other alcohol brands that were less popular with them.
The team found that men aged 18 to 20 preferred 11 of the 25 most popular brands. The results were similar for 16 of the top 25 brands among underage females.
In general, researchers stated, the popular brands were five to nine times more likely to have 18- to 20-year-olds in their most heavily exposed audience, compared with all other brands.
"We can't speak to what advertisers' intentions are," said study co-author David Jernigan, Ph.D., director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "But we can say there is clear evidence that 18- to 20-year-olds are the most heavily exposed to these ads."
"That's concerning," he added, "because that age group is at high risk of alcohol abuse and negative consequences from drinking," Jernigan said in a press release.
Ross suggested that there should be stricter standards for alcohol advertising such as limiting ads to magazines where less than 15 percent of readers are under age 21. Moreover, parents should also educate their children to be savvy media consumers.
"Parents should take note that scientific evidence is growing that exposure to alcohol advertising promotes drinking initiation," he said, "and is likely to increase the frequency of consumption for kids already drinking."
The study is published in July issue of 'Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs'.
