If alcohol companies had done a better job of following their voluntary standards, youth exposure to alcohol ads on the radio in the summer of 2004 would have been substantially reduced, according to data from the
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication,
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Analyzing a sample of 67,404 alcohol advertisements in 104 U.S. radio markets collected during the period from June 15 to August 5, 2004, researchers from CAMY and CDC found that 14% of all alcohol advertisements (9,158 ads) aired in programming where youth represented more than 30% of the listening audience. This represented a substantial improvement from 2003, when a similar CAMY study found that 28% of alcohol advertisements had youth audiences greater than 30%. However, the ads exceeding the 30% threshold in 2004 accounted for nearly a third of total youth exposure to radio advertising for the leading alcohol brands.
The alcohol industry’s voluntary standard, adopted by beer and distilled spirits trade associations in the fall of 2003, stipulates that alcohol advertisements not be placed on programs with more than a 30% youth audience (12 to 20 years old). For eleven of the 25 most advertised brands, approximately half of youth advertising exposure resulted from placements that exceeded the 30% standard, including five brands for which approximately three-quarters of youth exposure resulted from these placements.
The study also found that 49% of the 67,404 alcohol advertisements were placed in youth-oriented programming, defined as programming with youth audiences larger than the population of youth ages 12 to 20 in the local market. These ads accounted for more than two-thirds (71%) of youth exposure to radio advertising for the leading alcohol brands.
“Young people spend more time listening to the radio than they do reading magazines or surfing the net, so reducing youth exposure to alcohol ads on radio is critical,” said Dr. David Jernigan, executive director of CAMY. “In September 2003, the alcohol industry made modest revisions to its voluntary code in order to reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising. While progress is being made, the industry still has a long way to go.”
With longitudinal research showing that increased exposure to alcohol advertising is associated with an increase in underage drinking, reducing youth exposure to alcohol ads is a key strategy to combat underage drinking.
In 2003, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine (NRC/IOM) of the National Academies recommended that the alcohol industry immediately adopt a 25% threshold for youth audience composition for placement of alcohol advertisements, with movement toward a 15% threshold over time. The CAMY study also found that the proportion of alcohol advertising appearing on youth-oriented radio programming using the 15% threshold, as recommended by the NRC/IOM, is very similar to the proportion identified using a market-specific threshold, thus supporting the usefulness of a 15% threshold for assessing the overexposure of youth to alcohol advertising.
The National Academies also recommended that the federal government monitor the exposure of youth to alcohol advertising, and that it report the results annually.
"The fact that the industry is still not in compliance with its own voluntary standard underscores the importance of tracking and monitoring alcohol advertising so parents, teachers and policy makers can be assured that these reforms are taking place," said Jernigan. “Companies can and should change their policies to reduce exposure of kids to alcohol advertising.”
