ARAPO Updates
February 2006
Alcohol Advertising Research
In the January 2006 edition of Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, new research is featured that shows a contribution between the effects of alcohol advertising exposure and adolescent drinking behaviours.
Dr. Leslie Snyder and her colleagues studied a highly representative, large sample of young adults (ages 15 to 26) throughout the United States. To reduce biases that can result from self-reporting studies, the authors selected individuals that resided within the top 75 media markets, which represents 79% of the United States population. The youth were interviewed four times over the course of the study to assess the relationship between advertising exposure and alcohol use.
This longitudinal study provided evidence to show that young people who were more exposed to alcohol advertising (specifically television, radio, magazine, and billboard advertisements) drank alcohol on average more than those who were less exposed. Specifically, for every additional alcohol advertisement seen, the number of alcoholic beverages consumed increased by one percent. Also, youth who lived in highly-saturated alcohol advertising markets drank, on average, more alcohol than youth living in low-saturated markets. The researchers found that there was a 3% increase in average alcohol consumption for every additional dollar spent on alcohol advertising per capita.
This research challenges claims that alcohol advertising causes brand switching or that alcohol advertising only influences the choices of those of legal drinking age. Further research in this area may begin to describe the processes by which advertising influences youth. Additionally, future research should consider the impact of other non-traditional types of alcohol advertising, including: product placements, promotions, and event sponsorships.
Political pressure from the Association of Canadian Distillers and government funding restraints were significant events around this time and may have influenced the relaxation of the mandatory pre-clearance process. The industry now pays Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), an advertising review agency, to assist in complying with the national CRTC regulations for broadcast advertising. In 2002, ASC expanded its review services to include the Ontario guidelines set out by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). As such, efforts to control alcohol advertisements are paid by the industry and are enforced under the Liquor Licence Act, whereby no Ontario advertiser may advertise liquor unless it is follows the guidelines set by AGCO.
Even though more knowledge often sheds light onto how much we don't know ‚ public health initiatives can still move forward using the best available evidence. Dr. Snyder's study brings light the importance, development and use of effective alcohol control policies to protect youth from being exposed to alcohol advertising. ARAPO has just released a research report entitled "The Effectiveness of Regulating Alcohol Advertising: Policies and Public Health" [PDF]. This report summarizes information on various alcohol control policies examined through a systematic literature review and key informant interviews.
Alcohol Advertising and Sponsorship Policies on Campuses
Many young people aspiring to attain post-secondary education live on, or are involved with, various colleges and universities throughout Ontario. Without control policies, campuses can become littered with alcohol advertisements and promotion. Drinking is a significant component to many students' lives at post-secondary institutions, and can become a real problem. The use of alcohol promotion control policies is one way to help reduce the effects of alcohol advertising among youth and young adults.
With this in mind, many colleges and universities throughout Ontario have adopted alcohol advertising and sponsorship control policies. A review of these alcohol policies was conducted for ARAPO. The policy paper, entitled "University and College Drinking and the Effects of Alcohol Policy: A Review of Alcohol Policies in Ontario's Universities and Colleges [PDF], outlines the current drinking rates among Ontario's youth and young adults, some of the alcohol related harms, the role of advertising, and a reflection of current alcohol policies on colleges and universities. In addition, the authors provide a number of URLs to various college and university alcohol policies.
With respect to alcohol advertising, the authors are happy to report that many schools do not allow alcohol sponsorship or campus-sponsored events involving alcohol on their campuses. Additionally, many have some kind of alcohol advertising placement restrictions (e.g., in residence halls). These efforts are fantastic to make note of, however, there are opportunities for improvement. For example, alcohol policies need to be easily assessible by students and staff, as well as enforced to assure policies are adhered to.
The entire document can be downloaded free of charge. Additionally, the links to the various college and university alcohol advertising and sponsorship policies can be either clicked on via the PDF, or viewed under the Sample Campus Alcohol Policy Collection on the APOLNET website.
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.