Media

A lot of the media today deals with alcohol. In fact, according to CQ Researcher in 1992, by the time teenagers reach driving age they will have seen 75,000 ads for alcohol. If you were to ask me, that's a lot of alcohol. Here are some more facts about advertising and alcohol.

Results from one study in 2001 indicated that beer advertisements are a significant predator of an adolescent's knowledge, preference, and loyalty for beer brands, as well as current drinking behavior and intentions to drink.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discovered in 2001 that 56% of students in grades 5 through 12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink.

In 2002, the Center for Science in the Public Interest calculated that the beer brewing industry itself spent more than $770 million on television ads and $15 million on radio ads in 2000.

According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 2001, 10 million people ages 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Of this number almost 7 million were binge drinkers and another 2 million heavy drinkers.

Members of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. had been following a voluntary ban on hard liquor advertising on radio since 1936 and television since 1948. The ban was broken in 1996. Since then expenditures for alcohol advertising have increased dramatically, even though liquor commercials were mainly found only on the cable channels. However, in the winter of 2002 the first major network, NBC, indicated that it would start accepting hard liquor advertisements on shows airing after 9 P.M. In a poll conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in December 2001, 68% of the respondents opposed NBC's change of policy and 70% agreed that it was dangerous to have liquor ads on television because young people will be exposed to liquor. Heeding public pressure, NBC cancelled its plans in March, 2002.

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