142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

304473
Youth Exposure to Alcohol Marketing in Digital and Social Media: Survey Findings

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 12:50 PM - 1:10 PM

David H. Jernigan, PhD , Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Alisa Padon , Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Background: Alcohol is the leading drug among youth, and exposure to alcohol marketing has been found to influence youth drinking behavior.  Alcohol companies are increasingly active in social media, and their brand pages have amassed millions of user-generated posts, likes and shares, but there is little research on underage youth exposure to and participation in this marketing.

Methods: We obtained a national sample of 1,192 underage youths, ages 13-20, and 1,124 adults, age 21+, using a pre-recruited internet panel. Using an online, self-administered survey, participants reported alcohol consumption, media ownership and use, and exposure to alcohol advertising.

Results: More youth reported exposure to alcohol advertisements on television, radio and billboards than adults; the difference in exposure to magazine advertising was not significant. Nearly twice as many youth (30%) reported seeing alcohol advertisements on the internet compared to adults (17%). On the internet, youth were more likely than adults to have seen alcohol advertisements, pictures of celebrities using alcohol, and pictures of celebrities with alcohol-branded items (p<.001), and were more likely to have shared these (p<.05). Youth were also more likely to have liked pictures of celebrities using alcohol (p<.01) and pictures of celebrities with alcohol branded items (p<.05).

Conclusions: Self-regulatory actions by alcohol companies are apparently not protecting youth from reporting higher levels of exposure to alcohol advertising in traditional and social media. Future research should examine the effects of participation in alcohol marketing in social media on youth drinking behavior.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe youth access to alcohol marketing in social media. Assess the degree to which youth as compared to adults are exposed to and participating in alcohol marketing in social media.

Keyword(s): Alcohol Use, Marketing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principal investigator of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, a CDC-funded center that specializes in monitoring youth exposure to alcohol marketing. As such, I also served as principal investigator of the survey on which we report in this presentation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3213.0: Alcohol Marketing Strategies and Youth: New Research