Alcohol Advertising
Alcohol Advertising
Exposure to alcohol advertising is an everyday occurrence. Alcohol advertising is persuasive not only to adults but to those who are too young to buy alcohol legally. Although parents and peers have a large impact on youth decisions to drink, marketing also has a significant impact by influencing the attitudes of parents and peers and helping to create an environment that promotes underage drinking. Alcohol companies focus billions of dollars on advertising their products and still claim that the effect is minimal. I pose a few questions that are; who are the targets of alcohol advertising? How does alcohol advertising affect the people targeted by alcohol companies? Finally what actions are being taken to prevent the encouragement of underage drinking or other alcohol related tragedies? Alcohol is the most commonly used drug in the United States. It is also one of the most heavily advertised products in the United Sates. Alcohol companies generate more then 65 Billion Dollars a year in revenue, and spend way over 1 Billion Dollars a year on advertising. Unfortunately young people and heavy drinkers are the primary targets of the advertisers. Research indicates that advertising contributes to increased consumption of alcohol by young people and serves as a source of negative socialization for young people. Many that argue that peer pressure to drink is the major influence of young people strongly overlook the role of advertising. About one third of Americans chose not to drink at all, another third drink moderately, and the final third drink regularly. Ten percent of the drinking-age population consumes 60 percent of the alcohol which means that 40 percent of the alcohol being consumed today is consumed by minors. If alcoholics were to recover, in other words stop drinking entirely, the alcohol companies' gross revenues would be cut in half. Recognizing this important marketing fact, alcohol companies deliberately devise ads
Exposure to alcohol advertising is an everyday occurrence. Alcohol advertising is persuasive not only to adults but to those who are too young to buy alcohol legally. Although parents and peers have a large impact on youth decisions to drink, marketing also has a significant impact by influencing the attitudes of parents and peers and helping to create an environment that promotes underage drinking. Alcohol companies focus billions of dollars on advertising their products and still claim that the effect is minimal. I pose a few questions that are; who are the targets of alcohol advertising? How does alcohol advertising affect the people targeted by alcohol companies? Finally what actions are being taken to prevent the encouragement of underage drinking or other alcohol related tragedies? Alcohol is the most commonly used drug in the United States. It is also one of the most heavily advertised products in the United Sates. Alcohol companies generate more then 65 Billion Dollars a year in revenue, and spend way over 1 Billion Dollars a year on advertising. Unfortunately young people and heavy drinkers are the primary targets of the advertisers. Research indicates that advertising contributes to increased consumption of alcohol by young people and serves as a source of negative socialization for young people. Many that argue that peer pressure to drink is the major influence of young people strongly overlook the role of advertising. About one third of Americans chose not to drink at all, another third drink moderately, and the final third drink regularly. Ten percent of the drinking-age population consumes 60 percent of the alcohol which means that 40 percent of the alcohol being consumed today is consumed by minors. If alcoholics were to recover, in other words stop drinking entirely, the alcohol companies' gross revenues would be cut in half. Recognizing this important marketing fact, alcohol companies deliberately devise ads
Cited: Targets of Alcohol Advertising (http://www.health20-20.org/targets_of_alcohol_advertising.html) Center on Alcohol Advertising (http://www.tf.org/tf/alcohol2.html) Alcohol Advertising and Youth (http://camy.org/factsheets/index.php?FactsheetID=1) MADD Online: Alcohol Advertising (http://www.mad.org/stats/0,1056,177,00.html) Alcohol Advertising (http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/Advertising.html)