Study: Teens Exposed To Alcohol Ads Easily Swayed

The advertisement of alcohol has a strong influence over which brand teenagers prefer to drink, and while this is good from a marketing standpoint, it's not so great for teenagers.

In a press release published on EurekAlert, a study done by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) showed that teenagers who get a lot of exposure from alcohol advertisements are more likely to be swayed to drink certain alcohol brands, particularly those that are constantly splashed in magazine pages or seen on TV commercials.

Kids as young as 13 to 20 years old are 36 percent more likely to try these advertised alcohol drinks, thus perpetuating underage drinking, according to Medical Daily.

"Marketing exposure is increasingly recognized as an important factor in youth drinking, yet few studies have examined the relationship between overall advertising exposure and alcohol consumption at the brand level," said David Jernigan, one of the study authors in the press release. "These findings indicate that youth are in fact consuming the same alcohol brands that they are most heavily exposed to via advertising," Jernigan added.

The study involved looking into an alcohol's price and affordability as well as overall market share against advertising exposure and consumption by underage drinkers. The researchers also looked into a previous study on the effects of alcohol advertisements on the youth, as published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Underage drinking is a not an epidemic, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined that it is the "most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States," over other illegal substances or cigarettes. Death due to alcohol among teenagers is at 4,300 annually, the agency said, despite the legal drinking age of above 21 years old imposed in many states America.

But a group has challenged the findings of the latest study. "According to the federal data, underage drinking is at historic lows, yet advertising and marketing are at all-time highs. This real-world data further supports the overwhelming body of research concluding that advertising does not cause someone to begin drinking alcohol or to drink more," said Lisa Hawkins of the Distilled Spirits Council, according to Health Day. Hawkins also said that teenagers are likely to obtain alcohol from their parents or other adults, thus brand choices and marketing are more reflective of their choices and not of the kids.  

However, researchers compared their study to another study done about Joe Camel's advertising campaign. "Once the relationship between cigarette ads and the brands that youth were smoking was established, significant policy shifts occurred as state and federal policy makers took the issue of advertising exposure to youth much more seriously," said Dr. Michael Siegel in the Health Day report.