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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising in National Magazines, 2001-2008

Because there is growing evidence that youth* exposure to alcohol advertising increases the likelihood and quantity of underage drinking,1 reducing youth exposure is an important public health goal. Leading alcohol companies self-regulate their advertising practices, and in 2003 pledged to strengthen their standards from a maximum of 50 percent underage audience composition for publications in which they placed their advertising to a 30 percent maximum. Also in 2003, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine recommended that the industry move toward a 15 percent maximum youth audience for its advertising placements, based on the percentage of young people ages 12 to 20 in the general population.

This report seeks to answer four questions regarding alcohol advertising in magazines: Did alcohol companies meet their 30 percent standard? Did youth exposure† to alcohol advertising fall? Did the prevalence of youth exposure coming from overexposure (that is, the prevalence of advertising appearing in magazines where the percentage of youth in the readership exceeds their percentage in the general population) decline? What steps are needed to continue to reduce youth exposure and overexposure?

Key findings of the analysis include:

• From 2001 to 2008, youth exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines fell by 48 percent. Adult (age 21 and above) exposure declined by 29 percent and young adult (ages 21 to 34) dropped by 31 percent.

• Alcohol advertising placed in publications with under 21 audiences greater than 30 percent fell to almost nothing by 2008.

• The 30 percent standard affected placements in only nine of the 160 magazines in which alcohol companies placed their advertising between 2001 and 2008.

• Youth exposure in magazines with youth age 12-to-20 audience composition above 15 percent declined by 48.4 percent. However, the percentage of youth exposure coming from this advertising increased from 69 percent to 78 percent.

• Continued declines in youth overexposure will depend on the actions of a small number of brands: In 2008, 16 brands (5 percent of the total 325 advertising in magazines) accounted for 50 percent of youth exposure in magazines with youth compositions above 15 percent, and 40 brands (13 percent) were responsible for 80 percent of youth exposure in these magazines.


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