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ARAPO Updates

April 2006

ARAPO Updates — On the Move

This will be the last official ARAPO Update. For up-to-date information on events and research into alcohol advertising check out APOLNET's monthly e-bulletin, Issues to Watch and the bi-weekly listserv posting "Alcohol in the News"

Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity 3 Forum - Highlighting the Links between Alcohol Promotion and Drinking Among Youth

On Friday, March 3rd, 2006 the third annual Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity Forum was held. This year's forum sought to answer the question: "Is media advertising and promotion of alcohol implicated in the prevalence of binge drinking among underage Ontario youth?"

"Alcohol advertising is everywhere that young people are," says Dr. Jernigan, Director of Research at the Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University in Washington DC. "It's in the movies they watch, the magazines they read and the websites they access. We want to say to the industry, why are you wasting your money advertising your product to a population which is too young to purchase your product? We think the alcohol industry can do better, and frankly we believe our young people deserve better."1

Dr. David Jernigan was joined at the forum by Dr. Marvin Krank, psychology professor and researcher at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, to speak on the links between alcohol marketing and youth drinking. According to Dr. Jernigan and Dr. Krank's presentations there is sufficient evidence to suggest that alcohol advertising negatively influences attitudes and behaviours associated with risky-drinking.

 Doctor Marvin Krank of UBC and Doctor David Jernigan of CAMY
Dr. Marvin Krank, UBC and Dr. David Jernigan, CAMY
ANOC 3 Forum, March 3, 2006

Dr. Jernigan and colleagues track the extent to which United States youth are exposed to alcohol advertising. They found in 2003, youth compared to adults saw more beer and distilled sprits ads, more 'alco-pop' ads and fewer wine ads2. Additionally, youth were 150 times more likely to see an alcohol ad than a social responsibility message about risks associated with underage drinking3. In response to this research, CAMY supports a national reform on alcohol advertising: the STOP Underage Drinking Act. This Act would include: stronger enforcements of current guidelines, annual reports on youth exposure to alcohol advertising, and national social responsibility media campaigns. CAMY research reports are available on their website.

Dr. Krank leads a project called Project on Adolescent Trajectories and Health (PATH), which is a longitudinal study looking at the determinants of adolescent risky health behaviours and health outcomes. One specific area includes researching the effects alcohol advertising has on cognitions (the mental processes by which individuals store and use knowledge) and how they predict transitions into risky behaviours. PATH research shows that alcohol advertising influences alcohol cognitions and predicts increased alcohol use.4,5The research does not prove that alcohol advertising causes risky behaviour, but is consistent with other research and sufficient to inform policies and interventions. His recommendations for action include:

  • Alcohol advertising media literacy among youth - teaching young people to disregard the messages in advertising
  • Realistic expectations about alcohol effects – presenting a balanced presentation
  • Effective alcohol advertising policies to reduce exposure among youth

The third speaker, Michelle Swenarchuk, a Toronto based lawyer, spoke on the current laws around alcohol promotion in Canada, including international trade treaties and the impact of these treaties on laws governing promotion. Her presentation was primarily based on ARAPO's newest resource: The Effectiveness of Alcohol Advertising: Policies and Public Health [PDF, 148kb]

The afternoon session focused on public health's response to the issues presented by Dr. Jernigan, Dr. Krank and Ms. Swenarchuk. The following presenters showcased a number of activities that can be done to reduce the effects of alcohol advertising among youth:

  • Joe Rock, Program Coordinator at the Ontario Public Health Association, discussed the activities of a counter-alcohol campaign called Youth and Alcohol Messages and Media (YAMM). This campaign uses youth-to-youth messages to raise awareness of the risks associated with risky drinking. Additionally, education components will be incorporated into the campaign, which will support goals for behaviour change.

  • Rebecca Fortin, Program Coordinator for ARAPO, spoke on recent initiatives at the Association used to reduce the effect of alcohol advertising. These include:

  • Patricia Hajdu is a health promotion planner at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit. Ms. Hajdu has been involved with youth-led programs and shared the 'good', 'not so good' and 'lessons learned' when using youth leadership strategies.

  • Stephen Gard, Windsor FOCUS Community program coordinator, shared his experiences working as a health promoter in Windsor, the "partying capital of Canada".

    Low priced beer sign Low priced beer sign
    Low priced beer sign

    He spoke about the extensive alcohol promotion from bar establishments, which is one of the many problems influencing problems with risky and underage drinking. Increased security/enforcement, a Hospitality Resource Panel, and a program targeting university students are three initiatives occurring in Windsor being used to target binge and underage drinking.

PowerPoint Shows of their presentations are available on the APOLNET website under the main Resources heading, then clicking on Education & Training, then Teleconferences/Presentations.

The Alcohol Working Group of the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) sponsored the conference in collaboration with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Alcohol Policy Network (APN), and the Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in Ontario (ARAPO). Denise DePape, the chair of the OPHA Alcohol Working Group says, "We know that alcohol use can cause problems related to injuries and chronic disease. Youth are susceptible to pressures to drink — and to drink heavily. We need to have supportive environments for underage youth not to drink — and this means developing policies to reduce the impact of alcohol promotion."

Stay tuned to the APOLNET Listserv information on next year's forum.

1   Parent Action on Drugs (2005). Risky Drinking: The Un-Conference – Youth and Alcohol, Messages and Media – Stage 1: A Summary Report and Resource Kit DVD. Toronto, ON.
2   Centre on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). (2004). Youth Overexposed: Alcohol Advertising in Magazines, 2001 to 2003. Washington, D.C. Retrieved March 2006 from http://camy.org/research/mag0405/mag0405.pdf [PDF]
3   Centre on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY). (2005). Alcohol Industry "Responsibility" Advertising on Television, 2001 to 2003. Washington, D.C. Retrieved March 2006 from http://camy.org/research/responsibility2005/responsibility2005.pdf [PDF]
4   Krank, M.D. & Kreklewetz, K.L. (2003). Exposure to alcohol advertising increases implicit alcohol cognitions in adolescents (abstract). Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States: Research Society on Alcoholism.
5   Krank, M.D., Wall, A.M., Lai, D., Wekerle, C. & Johnson T. (2003). Implicit and explicit cognitions predict alcohol use, abuse and intentions in young adolescents (abstract). Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States: Research Society on Alcoholism.

ARAPO gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for its programming.

ARAPO is the host of APN's Alcohol Advertising Information Pack.