QUANTIFYING YOUTH EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL ADVERTISING

Underage drinking is a critical public health issue in the United States--there is broad consensus about this fact. However, there has been considerable debate about the influence of alcohol advertising on underage drinking. In 2002, The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) was formed at Georgetown University to quantify, for the first time, youth exposure to alcohol advertising in all measured media.

VMR brought media research discipline to the problem

Virtual Media Resources has worked with CAMY since its founding to quantify the exposure of youth to alcohol advertising. VMR applied its experience with media research to measure advertising exposure using the same data sources, tools and techniques used by alcohol advertisers and their media buyers.

VMR developed groundbreaking systems, analyses, and tools

In the course of providing research and analysis support to CAMY, Virtual Media Resources developed groundbreaking information systems and research tools:

• A comprehensive database of more than 1 million television, magazine, and radio alcohol advertisement occurrences, cross-referenced to industry-standard product classifications, and matched to audience research from Nielsen Media Research, Mediamark Research Inc., and Arbitron.
• A series of innovative public-access website tools, deployed at www.camy.org, to help policy-makers and the general public quantify youth exposure to alcohol advertising for different media, brands and markets.
• A sophisticated advertising reallocation model to estimate the impact of youth audience composition placement thresholds on youth exposure and on media budgets.
• A rich vocabulary of terms, definitions, and concepts which have facilitated communication about the effects of alcohol advertising on underage drinking.

VMR analysis yielded key insights

• Youth are exposed to 20% more alcohol advertising than adults in magazines,
• More than 25% of all television advertisements are seen by proportionately more youth than adults,
• Girls, in particular, see more alcohol advertising in magazines for sweet "alcopop" beverages such as Mike's Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice,
• African American youth are exposed to proportionately more advertising than all youth and more than African American adults for cognac brands such as Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Martell, and
• Hispanic youth heard as much as 272 percent more radio advertising per capita for some brands of beer compared to all youth ages 12-20.

The presentation of hard evidence has yielded results

The presentation of carefully researched reports and peer-reviewed journal articles has raised awareness and affected change in youth exposure to alcohol advertising in a very short time frame.

• The publishing industry has created and expanded age-qualified (21+) editions of popular magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Spin, ESPN, and Jane.
• The Beer Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council adjusted their industry guidelines for placement of advertisements.
• Alcohol companies and regulators have begun the discussion of alcohol ad placements in magazines with unmeasured audiences.
• Congress introduced the STOP Underage Drinking legislation

VMR continues to work with CAMY to model and monitor the impact of these policy changes on youth exposure to alcohol advertising.

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