American Teens are Mostly Exposed to Alcohol Advertisements in Magazines: Study

Youngsters who are regular drinkers see more magazine advertisements of different alcohol brands that they consume, finds a study.

Mass media plays a huge role in influencing habits and behavior of its impressionable audiences.  Experts at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found young adults, especially those who are aged between 18 and 20, are heavily exposed to popular alcohol brands they  consume advertised in journals and magazines.

The study looked at individuals of different age groups to identify those having maximum exposure to 25 well known brand names of alcohol and other 308 brands that are less popular.

The U.S. advertising rules mandate that alcohol advertising must be placed only in those magazines that have less than 30 percent readership of those aged below 21.  The findings also revealed a direct link between teens' unrestrained drinking habits and high exposure to alcohol advertising.  Under aged boys and girls were exposed to 68 and 72 percent of the 25 top brands of alcohol, respectively. Almost 16 of the well known brands were often advertised in magazines that had readership of individuals aged between 18 and 20 .

"Eighteen-to-20-year-olds experience one of the highest rates of excessive alcohol use an alcohol use disorders among all age groups," said David Jernigan, co-author and director at the CAMY in a news release.

"This study adds to the growing evidence that alcohol advertising may be related to drinking and importantly, suggests a relationship between advertising exposure and consumption of specific brands," he adds.

In addition, the study noted many renowned magazines did not adhere to the alcohol advertising rules and had more than 30 percent of under-aged readers as it subscribers.

"The fact that we see these high levels of exposure to magazine advertising  among under-aged readers despite all of the magazine advertisements being in compliance with alcohol industry self-regulatory codes clearly shows current self-regulatory guidelines are not protective of youth," said Craig Ross, study author and consultant at CAMY.

"With alcohol the number one drug among youth and responsible for 4,300 deaths per year, its' time to ask ourselves what can be done in the interest of our nation's young people," added Ross.

The National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism funded the research. More information is available online in the journal of studies on Alcohol and Drugs.