ALOUD Fact Sheet | Alcohol Advertising and Promotion

FACT SHEET
Alcohol Advertising and Promotion
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Alcohol marketers say they have voluntary standards that prevent them from targeting consumers younger than the legal purchase age. They claim to avoid pitches that primarily appeal to teenagers and to pass up ad placements that reach an audience that is predominantly underage. Yet, we are told, when one reaches 21, former teens become potentially valuable alcohol consumers and legitimate targets for aggressive promotions to drink. The sad reality is that people under 21 are also in industry’s cross-hairs; whether they’re the intended targets is a matter of debate. The result, however, is the same. Millions of underage persons regularly absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising for booze. Those messages weave through all media and countless marketing arenas; they mirror youth culture and relate directly to the interests, motivations, and aspirations of young people.
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America’s youth are overwhelmed with mass media messages. Before graduating high school, students will spend about 18,000 hours in front of the television — more time than they will spend in school. ¹ During this time they will watch about 2,000 alcohol commercials on television each year. ¹ Alcohol advertisements reach youth not only through television, but also through other varied media, such as billboards, magazines, and sports stadium signs. In all, youth view 45% more beer ads and 27% more liquor ads in magazines than do people of legal drinking age. ^2

xAlthough the alcohol industry maintains that its advertising aims only to increase market share and not to encourage underage persons to drink, research suggests otherwise. Alcohol advertisements overwhelmingly connect consumption of alcohol with attributes particularly important to youth, such as friendship, prestige, sex appeal and fun. ^3

xThe introduction of cartoon or animal characters further attempts to attract young viewers to alcohol. In recent commercials, alcohol advertisers have used frogs, lizards and dogs, which were overwhelmingly admired by youth. In 1996, for example, the Budweiser Frogs were more recognizable to children aged 9-11 than the Power Rangers, Tony the Tiger, or Smokey the Bear. ⁴ Many alcohol advertisements use other techniques oriented toward youth, such as themes of rebellion and use of adolescent humor.

It is telling that youth report alcohol ads as their favorites,⁵ especially when so many different products vie for their attention. These compelling advertisements become the new teachers of youth. One study found, in fact, that 8-12 year olds could name more brands of beer than they could U.S. presidents. ⁵ It is not surprising that underage drinkers consume about 25% of all alcohol in the United States. ⁶

The Facts

Research reports show that exposure to alcohol advertising shapes young adolescents’ attitudes toward alcohol, their intentions to drink, and underage drinking behavior. ¹
Alcohol advertising appeared during all 15 of the top teen television shows in 2002. Alcohol advertisers spent 60% more to advertise on these shows in 2002, including Survivor, Fear Factor, and That ‘70s Show, than in 2001. ²
Alcohol advertisers spent $990 million (22% more) for TV ads in 2002 and placed 39% more alcohol ads on TV than in 2001. ³
22% of the alcohol ads aired on TV in 2002 were more likely to be seen by youth 12–20 years of age than adults. These 66,218 ads were also more likely to be seen by youth ages 12–20 than by young adults ages 21–34. ⁴
According to a 1998 advertising agency study, youths 6–17 years of age identified Budweiser’s cartoon ads as their favorite, more popular than any ads for Pepsi, Barbie, Snickers, or Nike. ⁵
A 1996 survey of children ages 9–11 found that children were more familiar with Budweiser’s television frogs than with Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, or Smokey Bear. ⁶
American young people heard more radio advertising for beer and distilled spirits than did people of legal drinking age in 2001 and 2002. ⁷
Magazine ads for alcoholic beverages reached more youth 12–20 years of age than adult readers in 2001. ⁸
High intensity point-of-sale advertising is common in convenience stores and combination gas station/convenience markets where 75% of teenagers shop weekly. Alcohol marketing at the point of sale (interior and exterior signage, floor displays and alcohol-branded functional objects such as counter change mats with an alcohol company logo) often includes low height alcohol ads that are in the sight line of children and adolescents as opposed to adults. ⁹

Advertising and Promotion
Even if the alcohol companies are not targeting young people, abundant evidence shows that a large proportion of these commercial messages and promotional activities do, in fact, reach underage audiences.
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   Billboards are a major forum for alcohol advertising. Children and teenagers are regularly subjected to these types of advertisements, but parents cannot effectively control their children's exposure to alcohol billboards. Billboards cannot be "turned off" like other types of advertising. As such, they are often a permanent and intrusive element of the community's environment.
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   The industry has the prerogative—indeed, the social obligation—to regulate its own practices and to refrain from marketing products or engaging in promotional activities that have a particular appeal to youngsters.
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   Alcohol companies, advertising companies, and commercial media should refrain from marketing practices (including product design, advertising, and promotional techniques) that have substantial underage appeal and should take reasonable precautions in the time, place, and manner of placement and promotion to reduce youthful exposure to other alcohol advertising and marketing activity.
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   Alcohol companies should refrain from displaying commercial messages encouraging alcohol use to audiences known to include a significant number of children or teens when these messages are known to be highly attractive to young people. It is not enough for the company to say: “Because these messages also appeal to adults, who will predominate in the expected audience, we are within our legal rights.”
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   The alcohol industry trade associations, as well as individual companies, should strengthen their advertising codes to preclude placement of commercial messages in venues where a significant proportion of the expected audience is underage, to prohibit the use of commercial messages that have substantial underage appeal, and to establish independent external review boards to investigate complaints and enforce the codes.

Advertising Placement
Industry codes for beer and distilled sprits currently allow placement of alcohol advertising in media for which most of the audience is expected to be 21 or older. Because 70% of the population is 21 or over, this standard effectively allows placements almost anywhere except young children’s television shows or magazines, and therefore allows alcohol messages to reach large numbers of children and teenagers on a regular basis.
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   In the committee’s view, immediate implementation of an industry standard of 25% for television advertising, as suggested by the FTC, would signify meaningful self-restraint in alcohol marketing to reduce youth exposure. Over time, the industry standard should move toward a 15% threshold for television advertising.
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   According to figures provided to the committee by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, a 15% threshold would preclude alcohol advertising on 34% of programs if the base includes children under 12 and 19.2% if it excludes children under 12. Assuming that alcohol advertising dollars would be redeployed to programs with audience compositions below the threshold, a 15% threshold (using a base of 12 and older) would reduce youth gross rating points (the industry standard measure of exposure) by 22%.
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   Adoption of a 25% threshold would reflect a meaningful commitment to alter otherwise lawful magazine advertising practices to reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising. As with television advertising, however, the industry should consider eventually moving toward a 15% threshold to further reduce the number of youth who are exposed to advertising intended for adults.
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   Congress should appropriate the necessary funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor underage exposure to alcohol advertising on a continuing basis and to report periodically to Congress and the public. The report should include information on the underage percentage of the exposed audience and estimated number of underage viewers for print and broadcasting alcohol advertising in national markets and, for television and radio broadcasting, in a selection of large local or regional markets.

¹
Strasburger VC. Children, adolescents, and television. Pediatrics in Review 1992;13(4):144–51.

²
Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth. OverExposed: youth a target of alcohol advertising in magazines. Washington, DC: Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth of Georgetown University; 2002.

³
Grube JW, Wallack L. Television beer advertising and drinking knowledge, beliefs, and intentions among schoolchildren. Am J Public Health 1994;84(2):254–59.

⁴
Lieber L. Commercial and character slogan recall by children aged 9 to 11 years: Budweiser frogs versus Bugs Bunny. Berkeley, CA: Center on Alcohol Advertising; 1996.

⁵
Taylor, P. Alcohol advertisements encourage alcohol abuse. In: Wekesser C, editor. Alcoholism. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press; 1994. p. 111–21.

⁶
Columbia University Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Teen tipplers: America’s underage drinking epidemic. New York, NY: Columbia University Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse; 2002.