FRIDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Young Americans' exposure to
alcohol ads in magazines declined 48 percent between 2001 and 2008,
according to a new study.
The analysis of magazine ads found that 325 alcohol brands
advertised in magazines in 2008, but just 16 brands accounted for
half the ads placed in publications more likely to be seen by
youths than adults.
The findings suggest that alcohol makers have largely met the
industry's voluntary standard (adopted in 2003) of not placing ads
in magazines with 30 percent or more youth readership, said the
researchers at the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
However, magazines are still a major source of exposure to these
ads. In 2008, they noted, 78 percent of youth exposure to alcohol
ads in magazines occurred in publications more likely to be read by
people ages 12 to 20 than by those ages 21 and older.
"It continues to make no sense to advertise more heavily to those who cannot purchase alcohol than to those who can," CAMY Director David H. Jernigan said in a Hopkins news release. "Yet a relatively small number of brands are still doing this, despite industry efforts to tighten the standard in order to reduce youth exposure."
Among the other findings:
- From 2001 to 2008, ads placed in magazines by distilled spirits
companies (the largest alcohol advertisers in magazines) fell by 34
percent while ads placed by brewers increased by 158 percent.
- Youth exposure to distilled spirits ads in magazines fell by 62
percent but exposure to beer ads in magazines rose by 57
percent.
- By 2008, there were virtually no alcohol ads placed in
magazines with more than 30 percent of readers younger than
21.
"Beer advertisers appear to be filling the gap left by distillers in youth-oriented magazines. If the entire industry is serious about underage drinking, it should adopt stricter standards to protect against youth exposure to its advertising," Jernigan said in the release.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more
about
underage drinking.