Abstract
Purpose
To assess the content of alcohol advertising in youth-oriented U.S. magazines, with
specific attention to subject matter pertaining to risk and sexual connotations and
to youth exposure to these ads.
Methods
This study consisted of a content analysis of a census of 1,261 unique alcohol advertisements
(“creatives”) recurring 2,638 times (“occurrences”) in 11 U.S. magazines with disproportionately
youthful readerships between 2003 and 2007. Advertisements were assessed for content
relevant to injury, overconsumption, addiction, and violations of industry guidelines
(termed “risk” codes), as well as for sexism and sexual activity.
Results
During the 5-year study period, more than one-quarter of occurrences contained content
pertaining to risk, sexism, or sexual activity. Problematic content was concentrated
in a minority of brands, mainly beer and spirits brands. Those brands with higher
youth-to-adult viewership ratios were significantly more likely to have a higher percentage
of occurrences with addiction content and violations of industry guidelines. Ads with
violations of industry guidelines were more likely to be found in magazines with higher
youth readerships.
Conclusions
The prevalence of problematic content in magazine alcohol advertisements is concentrated
in advertising for beer and spirits brands, and violations of industry guidelines
and addiction content appear to increase with the size of youth readerships, suggesting
that individuals aged <21 years may be more likely to see such problematic content
than adults.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 19, 2012
Accepted:
April 24,
2012
Received:
November 28,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
