The Impact Alcohol Advertising on Television has on a Youth’s Decisions to Drink

Here is an old paper I wrote back in 12th grade for my media literacy and research class. I love to go back and see how I progress as a writer.

When a teenager reaches the age of fifteen, they will have viewed about 75,000 alcohol advertisements (CQ Researcher, 1992). Furthermore, out of all the high school students in America, about 80% of them drink some alcohol (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). In addition, they are viewing approximately 2,000 commercials for alcohol per year (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1995). Is there a connection between alcohol advertising on television and a youth’s decisions to drink? Is there a problem in the alcohol industry? Do parents need to do a better job of monitoring what their kids watch? How can parents play a role in their child’s media intake? Alcohol advertising has had a huge influence on underage drinkers. Alcohol advertising on television attracts and impacts a youth’s decisions to drink because the advertisements connect alcohol with attributes that a typical youth finds significant, the advertisements use specific techniques that attract youth to alcohol, and the advertisements teach the youth of today that a part of everyday life involves alcohol.

Alcohol advertising on television attracts and impacts a youth’s decisions to drink because the advertisements connect alcohol with friendship. Friendship is a typical attribute that a typical youth finds significant. A lot of the television advertisements on television will have this value. Youth value friendship greatly. They are always doing what their friends are doing. This is called peer pressure. This means youth are influencing other youth. If a person’s friends are drinking, they are going to want to drink too, so they do not feel left out. This is being taught to youth on the alcohol commercials and programs. Friends have to do everything together, even drink. An example that shows alcohol consumption in association with friendship is That 70s Show. Youth not only value friendship, they value excitement.

Alcohol advertising on television attracts and impacts a youth’s decisions to drink because the advertisements connect alcohol with sex and fun. Some of television alcohol advertisements show pictures of attractive women. These types of advertisements give the message that if men drink a certain brand of beer or alcohol, they will have attractive women in their lives to make them happy. These types of alcohol commercials are most frequently attracted by male youth. Almost all male youth want sex. To add to that, these are shown on programs that male teenagers usually like to watch which sports programs are. Examples of these programs include Monday Night Football and the Super Bowl. Plus, a teenager values fun and excitement. Most of the alcohol advertising a teen sees on television involves some sort of fun and excitement. Fun and excitement is what a youth wants to see because they are generally big risk takers. These values are also common on programs that male youth tend to watch. Examples of these shows include That 70s Show, The Simpsons, and Family Guy. Fun and excitement is also common on many of the Budweiser commercials. To clarify, male youth are more impacted by today’s alcohol advertising on television than female youth are impacted. Alcohol advertising can even impact a child who is only six years old.

There is another side to the issue. Some people believe that alcohol advertising does not impact and attract youth to alcohol because they are too young to understand the humor, values, cartoons, and slogans of the advertisements on television. They are not yet media literate, and they do not have any knowledge about the advertising techniques that the campaigns used unlike adults. The alcohol industry targets adults where only adult viewers receive the messages that the advertisements bring. Youth today are being impacted not by television, but by their heredity, beliefs, attitudes, and peers. Television advertisement has very little impact on a youth’s decisions to drink.

Alcohol advertising on television attracts and impacts a youth’s decisions to drink because the advertisements connect alcohol with the values of wealth and success. To continue, alcohol commercials associate their brands of alcohol with class. This is telling viewers that if they want to be rich and successful, they have to drink this beer or drink this wine. Teens value money and success because they never have enough money and always are left wanting more. This message is often found on situational comedies where a person needs alcohol to be successful, rich, and have sex. Sitcoms are mainly attracted by younger audiences. Alcohol advertisements have incorporated teen values into shows that teens find attractive. The impact of alcohol by youth can be explained by the advertising techniques of the commercials.

Alcohol advertising on television impacts youth decisions to drink because the cartoons, slogans, animal characters, and the other methods in the commercials attract youth to alcohol. The alcohol industry does not try to attract underage viewers, but youth have actually enjoyed and looked forward to the commercials. Alcohol advertisements have used animals such as dogs, lizards, and frogs (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). In order to clarify, in 1996, there was a study done to see which television characters were most recognized by nine to eleven-year-olds. When the study was done, the Budweiser frogs overpowered the Power Rangers, Tony the Tiger, and Smokey the Bear (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). The study was from Anheuser-Busch’s frog campaign. The Budweiser slogan was popular and well recognized by the youth as well compared to other slogans (Media awareness network, 2009). The $2 billion that the industry spent in 2002 went towards attracting customers not knowing the industry attracted youth as well (Strasburger1, 1999). Since alcohol advertisements attract teens, they have become educators of alcohol for youth. Truly, it is not shocking that youth know more brands of beer than presidents, and, to add to that, 25% of the alcohol is consumed by the youth today (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009). The messages of these advertisements are being developed into a child’s brain in as early as six years of age (Media awareness network, 2009). When youth enter third and fourth grade, they start to establish positive links with alcohol. So, this is the age where parents, teachers, and other educators need to be with their children when they watch television to clarify the meanings of the advertisements. This is the grade where media literacy should start. It is when youth enter their teenage years that becomes the most dangerous years because they are making the verdict on whether to use alcohol or not. They have no knowledge of alcohol consumption, and they have no understanding or approach to the advertising ideas alcohol brings. So, they are in the years of temptation and trial. Meanwhile, alcohol advertising does not have as a great effect on older teens because their brains are already developed (Media awareness network, 2009). The alcohol messages have already matured in their brains. Older teens are the role models to the younger children. For example, if a twelve-year-old boy sees an older celebrity he likes drinking, he is going to try alcohol to be like his role model. To summarize, alcohol advertising has a greater impact on younger children, so it is important to have children learn about the media at an early age from schools, parents, and responsible adults.

Alcohol advertising on television attracts and impacts youth decisions to drink because the advertisements teach a typical youth that a part of everyday life involves alcohol, and that it is a passage way to manhood or adulthood. The messages that alcohol advertisements tell have the most influence on children who do not know much about alcohol at all (Media awareness network, 2009). The ones who know the dangers of alcohol, and the ones that know all the bad side effects of alcohol are generally the ones who are the safest from the messaging that alcohol advertising tells (Media awareness network, 2009). They are safe from alcohol advertisements on television, but it does not mean they are safe from peer pressure, family influences, heredity, societal attitudes, and beliefs. Still, the alcohol advertisements on televisions are teaching children and emphasizing the thought that a part of life is alcohol consumption. It gives the message that alcohol consumption is something that relieves people’s problems, stress, and allows people to have fun in their life. The message is especially strong among youth because their brains are still developing. They have a lot of stress, problems, and concerns throughout the week with school and homework. The youth feel like they need to unwind, relax, and have some rebellious fun by drinking alcohol.

It is not surprising that alcohol is involved in so many of the injuries and deaths in the United States of America, especially among the young people today. There is a strong connection between alcohol advertising on television and a youth’s decisions to drink. There is a problem in the alcohol industry. Youth are obviously attracted to alcohol commercials and advertisements because the alcohol industry has incorporated teen values into their campaigns. These values are friendship, sex, humor, class, wealth, and success. In addition, there are many more, but these are just some of the major ones. In turn, these values reinforce a youth’s impressions about alcohol. Next to that, they are attracted to alcohol advertising on television because they use cartoons and animal characters like the Budweiser frogs. The alcohol industry says it does not target underage drinkers. Today’s alcohol advertisements have been educating and showing today’s youth that a part of everyday life involves alcohol consumption. They explain to the youth that they should drink to have a fun way to relax and hang out with friends. Parents can help the issue with alcohol advertising by monitoring what their children watch. Today, they have the opportunity to block certain channels in their homes to prevent youth from watching certain shows that display alcohol. Parents need to know what their kids watch. Parents should engage and spend time with their children explaining the things their children see on the television. Alcohol ads on television are major contributors to alcohol consumption by youth. There are many more places where youth get information about alcohol. These places include billboards, magazines, sporting events, and the internet. So, dealing with the issue of alcohol ads on television is only a small step to solving the overall underage drinking problem. Most important, America needs to do something about today’s alcohol industry if it wants to see smarter and healthier youth in the future.