Association between content of alcohol advertisements and code violations

Background Previous research has demonstrated that alcohol advertisements often violate industry self-regulation codes and contain content that is appealing to vulnerable populations; however, few efforts have identified thematic content that is associated with code violations. Method A content analysis was performed on 241 ads shown during the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments between 1999 and 2008.  The ads were previously rated by public health experts to identify code violations.  Generalized linear models and backward selection were used to identify themes associated with the number of violations per broadcast ad.  Themes were aggregated based on the direction of association; year of broadcast, alcohol company, type of beer, and type of game (i.e. men’s and/or women’s) were included as covariates.  Results Eleven themes (e.g. conformity, ethnicity, romance) were associated with increased code violations (p’s<0.01) and seven themes (e.g. self-reward, happiness, calories) were associated with decreased code violations (p’s<0.05).  When aggregated, content associated with decreased violations was significantly more prevalent within (p<0.001) and between (p<0.001) ads.  When covariates were included, aggregated content associated with increased violations was significantly associated with code violations (p<0.001), but aggregated content associated with decreased violations was not (p=0.933).  Conclusions The mechanism used to target vulnerable populations may be determined through the identification of themes associated with code violations.  The presence of content associated with decreased violations does not negate the effect of content associated with increased violations.  To protect vulnerable populations, guidelines could be revised to include themes identified through their association with known code violations.