Betsy Long English 1103 10 September 12 Ms.

Caruso The effects of media upon teenage drinking Blame it on the goose, got you feeling loose. Blame it on the tron, got me in a zone, blame it on the a-a-alcohol. Blame it on the a-a-alcohol, (Foxx, Jamie. Blame It). This song is just one example of the many that are constantly listened to by the youth of today. Songs such as Blame It, I Love College, and many others portray an image to teens, implying that it is okay to drink and get wasted whether or not youre close to the legal age. Almost 7.2 million teenagers participate in binge drinking. One may be thinking, what has caused this drastic change in the culture of these young people? Popular music, television, and movies are just a few of the major contributors. It has been thoroughly proven that the media impacts the drinking and alcohol intake of young people today. Jersey Shore, Real World, and Family Guy are a few shows that typical teenagers watch. All filled with references to alcohol and portraying young people doing so. It is estimated that teens in their high school years, watch around 20 hours of television per week, with most of that time spent watching shows that display behaviors that are considered cool in the high school mindset (American par. 1). All of this time spent watching TV as a teenager, can greatly impact a young persons mindset and outlook upon a certain topic. In an experiment, scientists in the Netherlands and Canada conducted a trial consisting of 80 male university students, with ages ranging from 18-29. They were separated into 4 groups, each watching a show that contained
Comment [mc2]: I think that this has to have a citation after in parentheses Comment [mc1]: I really like the beginning of your intro. it brought my attention and instantly got me involved in your paper

drinking, yet each show with different volumes of it. After an hour, those exposed to the show with the most amount of drinking and the ads for alcohol consumed more than three 200ml bottles of alcohol, while those who were not exposed drank around one and a half bottles of alcohol (Alcohol on TV par. 3-5). This study clearly shows that alcohol portrayed in TV shows and movies affects the attitudes of teenagers and might also act as a cue to crave alcohol and binge drink in those who are already drinkers (Alcohol on TV par. 6). Participants then were shown 20 still images selected from television ads for the top beer and spirit alcohol brands that aired on national television in the year before the survey (American Academy par. 5). In this study, teenagers that were shown the images of alcohol brands were able to recognize many of the brands after the labels had been blurred out of the pictures. With results showing that 59% of underage teenagers were drinkers, with more than half of them considered to be binge drinkers, having more than 6 beers in a row. It is becoming more and more obvious that TV does greatly impact young people, especially those who watch it for long amounts of time. Another main way the media impacts teens today is popular music. Artists such as Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Asher Roth, Mac Miller, Flo Rida, and many more are the main contributors to the pop music today. Many of these artists also utilize alcohol as a way to connect with their audiences. Jamie Foxxs hit, Blame It features many references to top brand of popular alcohol. Due to the many alcohol references, this song is also considered to be a date rape anthem because of the drunk female it depicts and the singers pursuit of her. Along with this song, many other rap songs depict situations that occur due to the presence of alcohol. Another prime example of a rap song that depicts a stereotypical teenage party is Tipsy by J Kwon. In this song, drinking is prominent. Teen drinking is very bad, yo I got a fake ID though, (JKwon 1-

2). The first line of this song is already promoting teenage drinking and not even 30 seconds have passed. When a teenager thinks about college, the first thing that comes to mind probably isnt the classes theyre going to take, what residence hall they will live in, or even if they will be able to find their way around a new place. Its the parties they will be attending on the weekends. Many songs promote this attitude, writing about how great drinking is in college. Asher Roths I Love College is one of the many. Man I love college, I love drinking (Roth 30-32)! This song directly relates drinking and the college life. While they may overlap at times, the media has made it out to be the main activity that takes place on a college campus
Comment [mc4]: The flow of your paper is very good! The paper makes perfect sense. Keep up the good work! Good use of statistics Comment [mc3]: Add a semicolon