Studies Show Need for National Campaign Against Underage Drinking
by Mary Rettig
August 1, 2005
(AgapePress) - Research indicates that, between 2001 and 2003, American teenagers were 96 times more likely to see a television promotion for an alcoholic product than an ad warning against underage drinking. The research director of the Center on Alcoholic Marketing and Youth (CAMY) says something must be done to change that.Other research has shown that alcohol manufacturers tend to place their television ads in areas where teen viewership is high, CAMY's Dr. David Jernigan notes. And he says even more studies have been done to demonstrate what effects such high teen viewership and high concentration of alcohol ads have. "Really, not surprisingly," he says, "what these studies are finding is that the more advertising kids are exposed to, the more likely they are to drink -- and if they are already drinking, the more likely they are to drink more."
Meanwhile, Jernigan points out, the researchers found that alcohol companies spent 27 times more on product ads than on "responsible drinking" ads. The actual ratio of product ads to ads against underage drinking, he notes, is 96-to-1 -- obviously unacceptable.
CAMY's research director believes numbers like these prove what the real agenda of alcohol manufacturers is. And that agenda has apparently been successful, he asserts, since alcohol is the number-one drug problem among youth and the number of drinking youth has remained consistent since 1993.
"What this study shows is that we can't expect alcohol companies to do this kind of advertising and in any way balance the message from the product ads," Jernigan says. "The National Academy of Sciences looked at this whole issue in 2003, and central to their recommendations was that we need a national media campaign about underage drinking."
However, Jernigan observes, right now the federal government has only dedicated about $850,000 to prevent underage drinking, compared to $100 million to fight tobacco and illegal drugs. He contends the media campaign against underage drinking should be at least as large as the others because alcohol is the leading drug problem among America's youth.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
