Addictions

Exposing Our Youth To A Life-Threatening Addiction.
An analysis about the negative effects of advertising alcohol to children with respect to marketers and their intentions.

Introduction
The advertising of alcohol products is an ongoing controversy concerned with the impact that it has on young people. Through subliminal advertisements, irrational desires are cleverly instilled in the minds of millions by callous alcohol companies. It is unfortunate that the targeted minds are mostly those of our youth. The teen market in the United States is lucrative and important to marketers due to the fact that brand loyalties begin during adolescence and continue to last through adulthood (Fox). These selfish companies are clearly unconcerned about the well-being of our society, and are more concerned about their profits than their clients’ health. This document will inform readers about general problems associated with alcohol products, it will identify the effects of alcohol, and, finally, it will summarize the negative effects of advertising alcohol on the children of our society.

Problems with Alcohol

The consumption of alcohol poses to be a problem when considering long-term effects and, more significantly, it becomes a problem in our society when too much is consumed (causing drunkenness) and is associated with driving.

Long-term alcohol consumption is associated with liver disease, some cancers, and effects on the nervous system. One of the most common diseases associated with alcohol abuse is cirrhosis of the liver, which is among the top 10 causes of death in the United States. Other cancers linked to heavy alcohol consumption include cancers of the esophagus, stomach, mouth, tongue, and liver. In the nervous system, alcohol results in shrinkage in brain size and weight (Donatelle 339-340).

In response to drinking and driving, it is apparent that alcohol abuse is responsible for numerous traffic accidents and related fatalities. For example, approximately 38% of all traffic fatalities are alcohol-related (Donatelle 341). In addition, teenagers are involved in the most automobile crashes and fatalities with drinking and driving being a primary cause. Even more significant, alcohol use is involved in half of those automobile accidents (Fox).

Effects of Alcohol Advertising on Children

Alcoholism has always been a detriment to our society, especially in the hands of our youth. Many factors cause children to participate in the consumption of alcohol. Some factors include alcoholic parents, peer pressure, and the media. One of the most influential factors, however, is the media, which is generally unregulated and uncensored. Whether intentional or not, there has always been an existence of alcohol in many forms of the media, much of which children are exposed to.

The presence of alcoholic beverages in different forms of mass media can heavily influence young teens and adolescents to drink. For example, nearly one-third of high school students and nearly 45 percent of college students have engaged in binge drinking (drinking more than five drinks in one setting), and four million children are alcoholics or problem drinkers. In addition, children and teenagers are adversely affected by advertising that glamorizes alcohol consumption. Researchers have found that fifth and sixth-graders who can describe alcohol ads have more positive attitudes toward drinking than less knowledgeable children (Hoyer 548). One cannot help but to wonder how these young children formed such a positive attitude toward alcohol consumption. The logical explanation for this is that advertising efforts have impacted these young children through their lifestyle advertising-approach.

Lifestyle advertising is advertising that associates a product with desirable attributes rather than intrinsic product qualities. Some critics assert that appealing lifestyle advertising influences younger people’s decisions through the use of cartoons or animated characters. In addition, some research suggests that adolescents are more attracted to image or lifestyle advertising than adults are and that aspects of alcohol lifestyle advertising may be particularly appealing to children and teenagers (Kelly). For instance, a look at some of the practices of the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser), shows that the company is involved in attracting underage consumers to its brands. Budweiser beer uses an assortment of animals to promote its products, including frogs and lizards - both of them animated, and clearly attractive to a younger audience. The Budweiser frogs and lizards have a strong appeal to legal buyers between the ages of 21 to 29 (who are the heaviest beer drinkers), and this critical group shares many interests and behaviors with teenagers below the drinking age, implying that marketers are attempting to attract a younger audience. These advertising campaigns attract, entertain, and teach young people about beer. The three Budweiser beer frogs, which croak “Bud-weis-er” in different patterns to form the word Budweiser, provide an example of beer advertising that appeals to a younger audience. Lifestyle advertising depicts drinking as being positive and socially acceptable.

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly reported that 77 percent of American teens watch television after 9 p.m. on school nights, which is the time when ads for liquor-branded malt beverages are more likely to air. In addition, a survey conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) confirmed that millions of teens are exposed to advertisements for “fruity” alcoholic beverages. The survey asked teens to recall commercials they might have seen for malt-based alcoholic beverages. 73 percent of the teens surveyed saw television ads for alcoholic beverages. In particular, 62 percent recalled ads for Smirnoff Ice, 40 percent recalled ads for Barcardi Silver, and 58 percent recalled ads for Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Moreover, the survey also discovered that it was common for these ads to run during programs with a high teen audience, including “Fear Factor,” “Friends,” and NBA games (Alcopop Ads). These ads focus on emotional needs for social acceptance, success, and other needs and associates alcohol with fulfillment of those needs. By creating an ideal state in which adolescents and children wish to be socially accepted, the marketers are successful in persuading this young audience to believe that alcohol consumption will bring them out of their actual state.

Alcohol marketers defend their advertising efforts, asserting that consumers are intelligent and skeptical, and are not fooled by the association of alcohol with attractive images. On the contrary, it is argued that by around third grade, children acquire better communication skills just as they are attuned by social norms and peer influence, which enables them to understand persuasive messages, but, simultaneously, less able to resist them (Austin 326). In addition, young children do not possess the same skepticism as adults and are more likely to believe what they see in ads (Hoyer 518). What these alcohol marketers forget is that their consumers consist of adolescents and children in addition to those over 21 years of age. Marketers are in a state of denial by ignoring this young audience, who is influenced by their advertising efforts.

Conclusion

Adolescence is a period of physical and mental maturation, in which teens go through a transition to independence. This period causes teens to be more sensitive than other age groups to advertising imagery and promotional appeals. In particular, young people are more susceptible to image-based advertising of alcohol and tobacco products (Fox). Some action must ensue to protect the youth market from becoming victims of an addicting and life-threatening substance. In analyzing the effects of advertising on children, it is important to identify the role of marketers when advertising a product. Marketers create advertisements with the goal of selling their product. They conduct extensive research to identify consumer wants and needs and appeal to a specific target market. Marketers may not be intentionally targeting children when advertising alcohol, but through their lifestyle advertising-approach, their intentions would suggest that they are targeting children, who find these ads to be appealing.

REFERENCES

“Alcopop Ads Seen by Millions of Teens.” Join Together Online. 1 Feb. 2003 http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0,1854,554826,00.html.

Kelly, Kathleen J., Slater, Michael D., Karan, David, and Liza Hunn. “The Use of Human Models and Cartoon Characters in Magazine Advertisements For Cigarettes, Beer, And Nonalcoholic Beverages.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 19.2 (2000). EBSCOhost. 31 Jan. 2003.