Parents might do their best to shield their kids from advertising related to alcohol, but alcohol marketers are doing their best to reach them anyway. That’s the finding of new research that discovered that the content of alcohol ads placed in magazines is more likely to violate industry guidelines if the ad appears in a magazine with sizable youth readership.
The research, which was done by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that ads in magazines with a substantial youth readership (15 percent or more) frequently showed alcohol being consumed in an irresponsible manner. Examples include showing alcohol consumption near or on bodies of water, encouraging overconsumption, and providing messages supportive of alcohol addiction. In addition, nearly one in five ad occurrences contained sexual connotations or sexual objectification.
"The bottom line here is that youth are getting hit repeatedly by ads for spirits and beer in magazines geared towards their age demographic," said CAMY director and study co-author David Jernigan. "As at least 14 studies have found that the more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing, the more likely they are to drink, or if already drinking, to drink more, this report should serve as a wake-up call to parents and everyone else concerned about the health of young people."
Yes there is lots of dodgy advertising out there and it really does suck. But I think the way forward might be to talk to the ad world notables and ask them for help. I loved the last Gen Next conference but noticed that the favoured treatment for admakers was to ‘gouge their eyes out’. Surely that act should be reserved for politicians?
I used to work as a copywriter in multinational agencies, well before the push to stop cigarette advertising (yes I am 120 years old). Long before the public were pushing for less cig ads creative people were refusing to work on them. Alpine came up with an ideas magazine aimed at young women but couldn’t get anyone to work on it. Times may have changed but Ad people have kids and will fight just as fiercely for their rights as anyone else – as long as they are informed enough to do so… Maybe invite the parents on the Ad Council to the ‘right to childhood’ conference? (but tell them to wear goggles in case of eye gouging attacks).
The other thing is to help kids develop a better bullshit monitor. Adbusters do a top job: http://www.adbusters.org/spoofads They just need to do something for younger kids.
The problem with trying to shield children from alcohol – in ideas, physical, as well as advertising – is that it puts this “forbidden” sticker on it and the more restrictions that are attempted the more likely the children are going to rebel and the number of underage drinking cases with grow. Alternatively, if parents are successful in keeping their children away from underage drinking, it can culminate in a giant binge. It would be too difficult to try banning alcohol advertising completely as it appears in culture (movies, books, tv shows, the internet). However, perhaps there should be more of an emphasis on responsible drinking.