Running head: ALCOHOL ADVERTISING PROBLEMS

Advertising increases alcohol consumption which increases alcohol abuse

Gabriel Vizcano
University of Prince Edward Island
August 16, 2016

Alcohol Advertising is not the Problem

Running head: ALCOHOL ADVERTISING PROBLEMS

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Advertising and alcohol consumption have been around human society

for thousands of years. In fact, in early American foundation, alcohol
consumption was considered as something completely different than it is
today. Stolberg (2006) either by warming up people during the winters, or by
developing a better digestive system, drinking alcohol was perceived rather
positive. However, it is recent years that alcohol abuse problems are
reaching dramatic rates. The World Health Organization published that, in
2012, 3.3 million deaths, or 5.9 percent of all global deaths (7.6 percent for
men and 4.0 percent for women), were attributable to alcohol consumption
World Health Organization [WHO], (2014). On the other hand, advertising is a
marketing branch used to persuade the acquisition of products and services.
Tungate (2007) advertisings reach was enhanced by the development of the
printed press, where the first advertisers could include ads in newspapers
around the 1700. Today, advertising is a tool used by companies to promote
their business, it is very common to see alcohol ads published in our
surroundings. Liquor industry has a big share of their investments in
promotion. During 2013, only in the United States the budget for advertising
was 2.05 billion dollars (The Statistics Portal, 2013). Hence, alcohol
advertising can be considered as a contributor of the damages that alcohol
abuse has brought. However, advertisings involvement in alcohol
consumption problems has not been proved, due to the: lack of sufficient
evidence and studies which contradict this assumption. If advertising is

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responsible for alcohol abuse increasement, why alcohol consume prevention

campaigns are not solving the problem?
Despite the fact that there are not enough indicators to establish
advertisings responsibility in alcohol abuse cases, there are many people
who think liquor advertising is negative. Researchers have failed to
determine if in fact advertising is increasing alcoholism patterns. Recent
studies showed no direct involvement of advertising in habits of alcohol
consume, Mollon (2016). The demographic group that took part of this study
is the audience from ages between eighteen to twenty-nine years old, where
their attention for conventional media was measured. However, teenagers
do not tend to focus their attention in media that is not of their interest. In an
era where Internet and social media fills every concentration lack of a
person, it is difficult to promote a product to distracted audiences. This is
why advertising is unlikely to reach people under eighteen years old, since
usually agencies have a difficult time at the moment of trying to strategically
target group preferences. Hence, it is rare for a teenager to be regularly
persuaded by media to consume alcohol. It is important to understand
alcohol is a general term and brand is singular. Advertising agencies go
through long processes that take months, just to promote a particular brand.
Being this the case advertising could be blamed for increasing certain
products sales, for a generic involvement cannot be measured accurately. As
a result, determining advertising involvement in alcohol consume could be
complex, since brands have different shares in the market. Moreover,

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regulations in alcohol advertising have become more severe with the ads
exposure, leaving more questionable its involvement in alcohol misuse
problems.
Studies revealed there is a link between the most exposed alcohol
brands and the liquor most purchased by young audiences. In other words,
the brands that had more exposure in television were the ones with more
sales. The method to obtain this information was an Internet survey for
youths between thirteen and twenty years old. The survey just asked them
who of them had bought liquor during a certain period of time where popular
television shows were monitored. As Soleim et al (2015). The results showed
advertised alcohol brands exposed in these spaces were more likely to
remain with a higher preference by the youths. Therefore, the television
spots published by the companies helped their sales to remain over the
unadvertised brands. This in advertising is known as branding, where a
campaign helps positioning a product in the mind of the customers. This is
how brands persuade the public more efficiently to not change their
preference for the competition products.
Persuading a person to buy a product not necessarily mean its
consume will increase. Molon (2016). The effect caused by advertising
alcohol only helps reminding the audience of its brand, for statistically
people kept buying most advertised brands on a same scale. Moreover, the
existence of campaigns against alcohol consume are regularly exposed in

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the same media. If alcohol advertising is affecting its abuse, then why
advertising against it is not reducing alcoholism. Agostinelli and Gruber
maintain that, to dilute the influence of alcohol advertising, broadcast and
print counter-advertising and warning labels present factual information and
persuasive messages to the public. Some evidence supports the
effectiveness of these strategies, although the findings are mixed and
typically qualified by message, source, and audience factors (n.d). In other
words, the use of counter-advertising could decrease the consume of alcohol
in general, but this cannot be proved since the results of its effectiveness
vary depending on the context they are analyzed. However, in alcohol
advertising the brands send a particular message independently, bringing
the attention of potential new buyers and reminding their presence to their
usual customers. Therefore, the point of advertising alcohol would only help
companies to not lose their share in the market, instead of increasing the
consume of alcohol in general.
Alcohol has been consumed in society for thousands of years, hence it
is a regular habit that advertising is less likely to increase or decrease, for
counter-advertising will simply persuade people to buy certain brand.
Whether by being included in celebrations or any type of social event,
alcohol consume has been standardized. According to Brodsky and Pelee,
alcohol abuse control would be possible in a culture with positive drinking
habits, responsible drinking typically is taught to children early in life, along
with an image of alcohol as a beneficent and controllable force that offers

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pleasure and positive social experiences (Brodsky & Peele, 1996). On the
other hand, there are also societies where alcohol abuse has become a
problem for negative reasons. Grenada is a developing country where liquor
is consumed frequently by adolescents who have suffered by living in a
conflictive environment. Thus, advertising has a minor involvement in the
increasement of alcohol consumption. In fact, a study made by the
Department of Public Health and Preventative Medicine from St Georges
University stated that, despite there is a high volume of secondary students
related with alcoholism, advertising is slightly changing the statistic numbers
(Merrick & Hegami-Younger, 2016). If this were true then counter-advertising
has not been focused on solve the problem from its origin, for the alcohol
abuse problems in Grenada are caused by a deep social structure
malfunction rather than ads persuasion.
In either case, society could be considered directly involved in alcohol
consumption and alcohol abuse. Whether by being a standard necessity in social
events, or by being the perfect excuse to have a conversation with friends.
Furthermore, society problems can bring alcohol abuse to concerning levels, where
advertising takes no direct involvement. If advertising is only looking for establish a
better relation between brands and their customers, and if counter-advertising is
not solving efficiently disorders in alcohol consumption; the solution for reducing
alcohol consume cannot be linked to advertising, hence there is not enough
evidence to support this assumption. However, the solution could be in counteradvertising as long as it focusses its campaigns on the origin of the problem. In
addition, promoting education for adults and children where alcohol can be

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established as a something that can brings positive experiences to society by
consuming liquor with responsibility; rather than stating alcohol consume is
negative without creating any consciousness in peoples mind.

Word Count: 1313

References
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Tungate. M. (2007). Ad Land a Global History of Advertising. London, UK:

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