Marketing alcohol is a billion-dollar business
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many youth don’t understand
the dangers of alcohol when legions of Madison Avenue advertisers
are paid nearly $1 billion a year to couch booze in tuti-fruiti
mixes that appeal to the sweet tooth of young drinkers.
Marketing booze is a billion-dollar business
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many youth don’t understand the dangers of alcohol when legions of Madison Avenue advertisers are paid nearly $1 billion a year to couch booze in tuti-fruiti mixes that appeal to the sweet tooth of young drinkers.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) research shows that more and more alcohol distributors are aiming advertising toward teens.
Studies conducted by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) showed that 51,084 ads were more likely to be seen by youth, ages 12 to 20, than by legal-age adults in 2001; the number jumped to 69,054 by 2003.
The CAMY study revealed that alcohol ads increased by 90,000 between 2001 and 2003, driven in large part by a rise in distilled spirit ads on cable television. There is also the fact that 23 percent of all alcohol ads on television are more likely to be seen by youth aged 12 to 20 than by people of legal drinking age.
MADD also reports that in 2002 the alcohol industry spent more than $990 million on television advertising compared to $10 million on responsibility ads.
Representatives from MADD said that alcohol advertising is reaching more teens everyday, especially with advertisements for liquor-branded, malt-based “alcopops.” Some feel that the alcohol industry is slipping in the back door with the new product ads, avoiding guidelines banning liquor advertising on television networks, while bombarding teens with sexy product ads glamorizing drinking.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has conducted studies that show that more than 73 percent of teens ages 12 to 18 had seen alcohol beverage television advertisements after 9 p.m. on school nights, including 71 percent of youths ages 12 to 13. The survey showed product recall of 47 percent for Smirnoff Ice and 54 percent for Mike’s Hard Lemonade among the young 12 to 13-year-olds polled.
