BACKGROUND

1. Review of Alcohol Industry Practices at The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Danielle M. Hinchey Practicum at the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth • ALCOHOL MARKETING AND YOUTH • Early exposure to alcohol advertisements contributes to youth’s positive attitudes, expectancies, and perceptions about alcohol use, which predict intentions to drink or drinking.3 • Research suggests that there is a correlation between alcohol marketing and underage drinking. At least 13 longitudinal studies have found that youths exposed to alcohol marketing are at increased risk for underage drinking. • BACKGROUND • The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health monitors alcohol industry marketing and advertising in order to to place attention on industry practices that put the health of America’s youth at risk. • By monitoring the marketing practices of the alcohol industry, CAMY intends to help protect America's youth from the dangers of underage drinking. • METHODS • Literature reviews were conducted to compile facts on youth exposure to alcohol advertising. • Written materials on youth exposure to alcohol marketing were developed. These materials will be disseminated to the public. • Alcohol advertisements were collected from various sources and reviewed. • A presentation was developed to highlight specific examples of how the alcohol industry has violated their voluntary marketing codes. • ALCOHOL INDUSTRY CODE VIOLATIONS • Advertisements that violated industry code were categorized based on the provision they violated, and a presentation was then developed to highlight code violations. • Various organizations have attempted to shed light on the alcohol industry’s inability to self-regulate. In 2008, the Marin Institute concluded that the alcohol industry is not capable of policing themselves. However, members of the FTC continue to praise the alcohol industry for their strict adherence to their self-regulatory standards. Photo Credit: Fan Photo on Natural Light Facebook Page • UNDERAGE DRINKING IN THE U.S. • According to the CDC, alcohol is the leading drug problem among America’s youth; It causes over 4,600 deaths each year among people under the age of 21. 1 • The individual effects of underage alcohol consumption have significant effects nationwide. In 2006, The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine reported that the cost of underage drinking is 62 billion dollars annually.2 • ALCOHOL INDUSTRY VOLUNTARY CODES • Through the use of self-regulatory codes, the Beer Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) aim to advertise and market beer products so that only adult consumers of legal drinking age are persuaded to try their products. • In their most recent published Codes, both the Beer Institute and DISCUS state that their regulations apply to alcohol marketing done on the internet. • DISCUSSION • One major purpose of alcohol industry code is to ensure that only individuals of the legal drinking age are persuaded by their advertising and marketing practices. • Code violations were easily found on social media sites like facebook and flickr. Social media sites are popular among youth, and given that age restrictions are not strictly enforced on many of these sites, marketing done on alcohol brand pages can be easily accessed by youth. • Since there is extensive evidence that the industry has violated their own codes, many organizations have recommended that the alcohol industry should not be responsible for policing themselves. • Some recommended actions have included objective measures for monitoring placement and content of advertisements, lowering the 28.4% placement standard to 15%, and lastly, independent third party reviews of marketing materials. REFERENCES 1. Midanik, L.T., et al. (Sept. 24, 2004).  “Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost-United States, 2001,” MMWR Weekly 53, 37:866-870. 2. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2006). Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, (xv) 13. 3 L.B. Snyder, F.F. Milici, M. Slater, H. Sun, and Y. Strizhakova, “Effects of Alcohol Advertising Exposure on Drinking Among Youth,” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 160 (2006): 18-24. Figure 1. Slide is from a presentation on alcohol industry code violations