Youths view almost as many alcohol commercials as adults - Brief Article

AORN Journal, March, 2003

Nearly 25% of television advertising for alcohol products is more likely to be seen by youths than by adults, according to a Dec 17, 2002, news release from Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, Washington, DC. A report about cable and network television advertising shows that of 208,909 alcohol commercials aired in 2001, 51,084 (24.5%) of them were more likely to have been seen by youths age 12 to 20 than by adults of legal drinking age.

The alcohol industry's voluntary guidelines for television advertising placement recommend that companies not advertise on programs that have a youth audience of 50% or more; however, in 2001, this accounted for only 1% of network and cable television programs. Additionally, this guideline is not always followed. In 2001, advertisers spent $1.8 million to air 3,262 alcohol commercials on television programs that had a greater percentage of youth viewers than adult viewers.

Other study findings include that in 2001

* youths saw more commercials for beer and ale than for fruit juice, fruit-flavored drinks, noncarbonated soft drinks, gum, skin care products, sneakers, and jeans;

* youths saw two beer or ale commercials for every three seen by adults;

* 30% of youths saw at least 780 alcohol commercials; and

* youths saw 48% more alcohol advertising than adults on music video and entertainment programs.

Youth See More TV Commercials for Beer than for Sneakers, Gum or Jeans (news release, Washington, DC: The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, Dec 17, 2002) http://camy.org/press/print.php?ReleaseID=3 (accessed 24 Jan 2003).