How many times have you seen an ad for a cold, refreshing beer immediately after an anti-drug or anti-smoking commercial? We tell children alcohol is a drug, but commercials show it as something fun and sexy with the power to rewind time.
It's OK, though, because beer companies insist they're not advertising to minors (but if underage drinking stopped, conservative estimates say sales would plummet by 15 percent).
Now comes research showing that beer commercials are indeed effective on youth.
According to a study by Canadian and Dutch researchers, "Young men who watched the movie American Pie II and 40 Days and 40 Nights with
accompanying commercials for alcohol were more apt to grab a beer ... compared to those who watched a
movie without the drinking prompts."
The subjects were 18 to 29 years old. It would be
hard to argue that 18-year-olds from the United States wouldn't be affected by
the same commercials as their Dutch counterparts. The big difference
is that American 18-year-olds can't drink legally for another three
years.
The research also
showed that product placement works, too. The study, which is in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism and can be read in its entirety here, is by no means the
final word on the subject. The researchers admit that the
exclusion of females, the small study size and the laboratory setting all played a
factor. Still, God help us if Utah finds this study.
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