Despite what the alcohol industry says, a new study has found that alcohol advertising contributes to increased drinking among youth.
The study, released in the January edition of the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, was meant to test whether alcohol advertising expenditures and the degree of exposure to alcohol advertisements affect alcohol consumption by youth.
Researchers randomly surveyed people ages 15 to 26 between 1999 and 2001 and found that youth who saw more alcohol advertisements on average drank more — with each additional advertisement viewed, the number of drinks consumed increased by 1 percent.
They also discovered that youth in markets with greater alcohol advertising expenditures drank more — each additional dollar spent per capita raised the number of drinks consumed by 3 percent.
Youth in markets with more alcohol advertisements showed increases in drinking levels into their late 20s, but drinking plateaued in the early 20s for youth in markets with fewer advertisements, the study said.
“This study is the strongest piece of evidence yet that … if kids see a lot of alcohol advertisements, they are more likely to drink more,” David H. Jernigan, research director of Georgetown University’s Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, told The Washington Times.
He added that the findings “call into question the industry’s argument that its roughly $1.8 billion in measured media expenditures per year have no impact on underaged drinking.” (BP)
Share with others: