Alcopop consumption and ad recognition among ethnic/racial minority middle-school students

Makers of alcopops (flavored, sweetened, low-alcohol beverages) have been criticized for promoting youth drinking by marketing to under-aged drinkers. There has been limited exploration of the influence of advertising on alcopop consumption among minority children. We investigated alcopop consumption and its association with alcopop advertising recognition in an ethnically/racially diverse sample of middle-school students in a predominantly low-SES Northern California neighborhood. As part of a larger, in-school survey on alcohol and tobacco, 1696 middle school students (25% Asian/Pacific Islander, 24% Hispanic, 17% African American, 6% White, 28% mixed ethnicity/other) answered questions about past-month alcopop use. To assess brand recognition, students were shown three images of alcopop ads with brand names removed, and asked to identify the brand advertised. Nine percent of 6th, 18% of 7th, and 26% of 8th graders reported drinking alcopops within the previous 30 days. Further, 29% of 6th, 35% of 7th, and 48% of 8th graders correctly identified at least one of the three alcopop advertisements. Multiethnic/multiracial students were more likely to report past-month alcopop consumption compared to mono-ethnic/racial students (21% vs. 13%, chi-square(1)=17, p<0.001). Controlling for grade, gender, and media use, students who recognized at least one alcopop ad were more likely to report drinking alcopops within the previous month (p<0.01;OR:1.57[1.20, 2.08]). Past-month consumption of alcopops in this ethnic/racial minority sample was high (26% of 8th-graders vs. 13% of 8th-graders in the 2005 Monitoring the Future survey). Future research should examine whether alcopops are marketed differently to minority vs. White audiences.