Majority of Alcohol Ads in Youth Magazines Violate Advertizing Standards

A new study conducted by researchers at Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reveals that alcohol ads appearing in magazines targeting the youth often violate the alcohol industry's advertising standards.

The study is the first to measure the relationship of problematic content to youth exposure, and the first to examine risky behaviours depicted in alcohol advertising in the past decade.

Bubbles and Brews - Alcohol Facts-Nutritive Value-Safe Intake-Effects-Famous Quotes
There is more to alcohol than mere intoxication. Infamous because of its social abuse but indispensable because of its many industrial applications.

The researchers examined 1,261 ads for alcopops, beer, spirits or wine that appeared more than 2,500 times in 11 different magazines that have or are likely to have disproportionately youthful readerships - that is, youth readerships equalling or exceeding 15 percent.

Ads were analysed for different risk codes: injury content, overconsumption content, addiction content, sex-related content and violation of industry guidelines. This latter category refers to the voluntary codes of good marketing practice administered by alcohol industry trade associations.

Examples of code violations include ads appearing to target a primarily underage audience, highlighting the high alcohol content of a product or portraying alcohol consumption in conjunction with activities requiring a high degree of alertness or coordination such as swimming.

Alcohol Abuse - Alcohol Addiction - Treatment � Rehab among Woman
Social drinking amongst women has become a fad. Stop it before it finishes you.

"The finding that violations of the alcohol industry's advertising standards were most common in magazines with the most youthful audiences tells us self-regulated voluntary codes are failing," said CAMY Director and study co-author David Jernigan, PhD.

"It's time to seriously consider stronger limits on youth exposure to alcohol advertising," he suggested.

Alcohol Use Disorder | Alcoholism
Alcohol use disorder or alcoholism is an inability to control drinking. It can cause short term and long term physical, as well as psychological effects on the patient.

Specific examples the researchers identified in the sample included advertising 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. Results also show ads were concentrated across type of alcohol, brand and outlet, with spirits representing about two-thirds of the sample, followed by ads for beer, which comprised almost another 30 percent.

Alcoholic Liver Disease - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment FAQs
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general information about Alcoholic Liver Disease.

The ten most advertised brands, a list comprised solely of spirits and beer brands, accounted for 30 percent of the sample, and seven brands were responsible for more than half of the violations of industry marketing guidelines.

"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 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."

The finding was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Source-ANI