Monitoring and Responding to
Alcohol Industry Marketing
Strategies in the United States
David H. Jernigan Ph.D.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
Department of Health, Behavior and Society
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
and
Director,
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
Can the alcohol producers’ industry
and public health work together?
• The alcohol market in the U.S.:
– Value of underage drinking: $22.5 billion (17.5% of
total consumer expenditures for alcohol in 2001)
– Value of abusive and dependent drinking (DSM-IV
criteria): $25.8 billion (20% of total consumer
expenditures for alcohol in 2001)
– Total combined loss to industry if underage and
pathological drinking eliminated: 37.5% of sales
(Foster et al. 2006)
Alcohol producers’
mission
“Every action taken
by…management is guided
by one overriding objective –
enhancing shareholder
value.”
-- 1997 Anheuser-Busch Annual Report
Understanding the industry
• Understand the different levels of the industry
– Producers versus retailers
– Liquor versus beer versus wine
– Global versus national companies
– Divisions in the industry can help public health
• See the alcohol “market” as they do –
respond on 4 p’s of product, price, place and
promotion
Product: “Alcopops”
• Industry spokespersons have described
alcopops as designed for “entry-level
drinkers” and those who do not like the taste
of beer.
• Even though most of them have distilled
spirits in them, the industry claimed they were
made from beer, so that they could be:
– Taxed lower
– Sold in convenience stores
– Advertised on TV
How popular are alcopops
among kids?
• Most popular with the youngest drinkers.
• 76% of current 8th grade drinkers (past 30 days) drank
alcopops in the past 30 days.
• 73% of current 10th grade drinkers (past 30 days)
drank alcopops in the past 30 days.
• 65% of current 12th grade drinkers (past 30 days)
drank alcopops in the past 30 days.
• 36% of current drinkers, age 19 to 28, drank alcopops
in the past 30 days.
• Of all the groups surveyed, the most likely to drink
alcopops were 12th grade girls – 29.6% had an
alcopop in the past 30 days. (MTF data, 2004)
Alcopops most popular with females
in every age group
Percent of current drinkers
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Male
50%
Female
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2004
2005
8th graders
2006
2004
2005
10th graders
2006
2004
2005
12th graders
2006
2004
2005
19-30 year-olds
New products
Research findings on effects of alcoholic energy
drinks on the drinker:
• Subjective perceptions of intoxication
decreased (i.e. headache, weakness, dry
mouth, perception of impaired motor
coordination) compared to effects of
drinking alcoholic non-energy drink
•However, according to objective tests,
motor coordination and visual reaction time
were still just as impaired. (ACER 30:598-605, 2006)
•AED drinkers more likely to engage in
dangerous activities
New products…
• Shotpaks – 17% alcohol - .99 each…
• Featured on the Today show in July
New Product Development
• Alcoholic milkshakes
– Flavors include
chocolate, strawberry,
caramel
– 4% alcohol
– Available in Australia
and the UK, just like
alcopops were initially
PRODUCT
• Industry tests more than 250 new products per
year in U.S.
• Product responses include:
– Warning labels
• Weak as stand-alone strategy
• Some evidence may increase support for stronger policies
• Need to be well-executed: legible, rotating, in contrasting color and
boxed, clear and concise, etc.
• U.S. label an “eye test”
– Bans on product types or particular products:
• Alcoholic energy drinks – Anheuser-Busch and Miller agree not to
produce any more, but much more to be done
• “Powermaster”
• Jello pops
• Etc.
PRICE
• Alcohol demand is elastic:
– In the U.S., a 10% increase in price of alcohol would
lead to a 7.4% drop in beer consumption, a 4.9% drop
in wine consumption, and a 14.7% drop in distilled
spirits consumption
• International research robust: consumptions and
problems decline when prices increase
– Particularly effective in reducing youth consumption
and problems; however increases tend to decrease
consumption in all groups, including heavy drinkers
PRICE
• Principal price strategy: tax increases
– Illicit market must be controlled for tax increases to be
effective
– Key tax interventions:
•Set tax rates across beverages by ethanol content
•Adjust tax rates to inflation (or peg to retail or
producer prices)
•Permit local and state governments to set own tax
rates
PRICE
Source: Cook P., Paying the Tab (Princeton Univers
PRICE
•Other price interventions:
– Eliminate happy hours, ladies’ nights, other
discounting
– Eliminate bulk discounts such as sales in pitchers
– Set minimum prices for alcohol
– Establish or raise retail license fees to fund
enforcement, prevention, education and
surveillance activities
“Place” interventions
• Responsible Beverage Service programs
– Involves development of operational policies & training
– discontinuing beer sales by pitcher
– serving of alcohol in plastic containers in settings where violence is
common
– limits on # of drinks/customer/hr (identifying & not serving to
intoxicated patrons)
– minimum age for servers
– prevent/managing incidents with potential to become violent
– increased food service
– having a good physical environment (e.g. lighting outside
establishments)
– making sure that liquor outlets do not serve as a venue for selling
other drugs
– implementing codes of good practice
“Place” strategies
• Increase community involvement
– in determination of liquor hours (reduce hours of
opening e.g.)
– require direct or indirect input from communities in
annual reviewing of liquor licenses
– set up liquor agreements in problematic areas
(involving local authorities, police, liquor outlets)
to proactively deal with complaints & address
problems which do arise
“Place” strategies
• Make it difficult for underage youth to purchase alcohol
– train servers of liquor not to sell to underage youth
– conduct sting operations to root out “bad” outlets and mobile
services that sell alcohol to youth
• Better policing
– Increasing law-enforcement around liquor issues
– Better training for police re liquor issues
– Get police to be more proactive in working with 8-10 liquor
outlets each (more routine inspections)
– Set up information system whereby police collect/collate
information on place of last drink when motor vehicle/pedestrian
injuries or violence/public disturbance AND ALCOHOL INVOLVED
– Deal strongly with “bad” outlets
• Reduce outlet concentration – strong research base here
PROMOTION:
adolescent brain research
• Brain imaging research has found that teens
with alcohol use disorders show greater
activity in areas of the brain previously linked
to reward, desire, positive affect and episodic
recall in response to alcoholic beverage
advertisements.
• The highest degree of brain response was in
youths who consume more drinks per month
and report greater desires to drink. (Tapert et al.,
2003)
Alcohol marketing as a risk factor
• Recently published longitudinal studies have all found that the more
youth are exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing the more they
are likely to initiate drinking, even after controlling for other variables.
• Forms of alcohol advertising and marketing that predict drinking onset
among youth:
– Television beer advertisements (Collins et al. 2007, Snyder et al. 2006, Stacy et al.
2004)
– Alcohol ads in magazines (Collins et al. 2007, Snyder et al. 2006)
– Alcohol ads on billboards (Snyder et al.
2006, Pasch et al. 2007)
– In-store beer displays (Collins et al. 2007)
– Beer concessions at sporting events (Collins et al. 2007)
– Per capita spending on alcohol advertising in their media market (Snyder et
al. 2006)
– Alcohol use in movies (Sargent et al. 2006)
– Ownership of alcohol promotional items (McClure et al. 2006, Henriksen et al. 2008,
McClure et al. 2009)
Effects of Alcohol Advertising
on Drinking Beliefs and Behaviors
(5th – 11th Graders)
Exposure
Music
Positive
Expectancies
.28
Intend to
Drink Beer
Adult
.18
.25
.21
.13
.16
People
Story
Humor
(R2=.41)
Overall
Liking
.49
.24
Negative
Expectancies
.22
.13
.22 .37
.61
Intend to
Drink Beer
Next Year
(R2=.60)
Attention
Scaled 2 (795) = 899.36, p < .01
NFI = .85, Robust CFI = .96
RMSEA = .036
Peer
Drinking
.15
Peer
Approval
Current
Drinking
(R2=.73)
Source: Grube et al., 2005
Alcohol advertising:
character, music, story
Self-regulation in
the U.S. alcohol industry
• Alcohol industry self-regulation is the principal means
for regulating alcohol advertising in the U.S.
• Beer and distilled spirits companies are most active
marketers at this time.
– Measured media expenditures 2006:
• Total alcohol spending: $2.0 billion
• Beer and ale alone: $1.28 billion
• Distilled spirits alone: $492 million
• Examine codes from two industry associations:
– Beer Institute
– Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS)
Alcohol industry self-regulation
• Beer Institute code:
– No beer
identification,
including logos,
trademarks, or
names should be
used on clothing,
toys, games or game
equipment, or other
materials intended
for use primarily by
persons below the
legal purchase age
2002
2007
Alcohol industry self-regulation
• Beer Institute code:
– Beer advertising and
marketing materials
should not…claim or
represent that
individuals cannot
obtain social,
professional,
educational, athletic,
or financial success
or status without
beer consumption.
Alcohol industry self-regulation
• DISCUS code:
– Beverage alcohol
advertising and
marketing
materials should
not contain any
lewd or indecent
images or
language.
2002
2007
Earlier efforts on
alcohol advertising in the U.S.
• 1980s – SMART campaign
– Stop Marketing Alcohol on Radio and Television
– Two million signatures delivered to Congress
– No action taken
• 1990s – SAFE bill
– “Sensible Advertising and Family Education” Act
– Mandated warnings on alcohol advertisements – print and
broadcast
– Bill never even brought up for a vote in Congress
• 2000s – effort to get a national media campaign
– $140 million in illegal drugs media campaign
– $850,000 for alcohol campaign
Center on Alcohol Marketing & Youth
Founded in 2002, our philosophy is that
reducing underage drinking requires a twopronged public health approach:
1) Reduce young people’s access to alcohol.
2) Reduce the appeal of alcohol to young
people, by:
-
Providing public health messages about alcohol and
underage drinking
-
Limiting impact of alcohol advertising on youth by
reducing youth exposure to it
What CAMY does
• Industry monitoring using the industry’s own data
• Answers the question: how much alcohol advertising
do kids see?
• Tracks alcohol advertising on TV and radio and in
magazines
• Uses standard industry sources – Neilsen, Arbitron,
etc. – to measure the audiences for that advertising.
• Shows that over and over again, kids are exposed to
more alcohol advertising per person than adults.
Alcohol Advertising Database
occurrence data
brands
audience data
ad placement details
brand and occurrence level
category +
parent info
youth + adult
GRPs, impressions
media
tools
alcohol category database
who was exposed to what advertising
brand comparisons
category overview
local market detail
audience delivery
media comparisons
youth vs. adult exposure
Youth exposure to alcohol
advertising: magazines
In 2006, compared to adults 21
and over, youth ages 12-20
saw per capita…
•
20% more beer ads
•
34% more ads for alcopops
•
50% fewer wine ads
The overwhelming majority of
youth exposure – 77% - came
from ads placed in
magazines with
disproportionate youth
audiences. (2005 data in MMWR,
8/3/2007)
Magazines 2002: Archives article
• Girls much more overexposed than boys
– Girls saw 68% more beer advertising, 95% more
alcopops advertising per capita than women
– Girls saw more alcopops and beer advertising per
capita than young adult women (21-34)
– Boys saw more than adult men but not more than
young adult men, rates of overexposure lower
(Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004)
Youth Exposure to Alcohol Ads on
Television
• In 2007, 340,337 alcohol product commercials appeared
on U.S. television.
• Underage youth ages 12-20 were more likely than legalage adults on a per capita basis to have seen 68,700 of
them, or about 20%.
• These ads accounted for more than 40% of youth exposure
to alcohol advertising on television.
• From 2001 to 2007 – the number of television alcohol ads
seen by the average 12 to 20 year-old increased by 38%.
• Much of this increase was in distilled spirits ads,
especially on cable TV.
CAMY Radio Database II
•Analysis of census of all alcohol
advertising in 28 of the largest U.S.
markets in 2006:
– More than a third were on programs
young people were more likely to
listen to than adults.
– These ads accounted for more than
half (58%) of youth exposure to
alcohol advertising on the radio.
Alcohol Web Sites
• Fifty-five alcohol Web sites
tracked by comScore Media
Metrix during the last six
months of 2003 had almost
700,000 in-depth visits from
underage youth.
• Almost 60% of
bacardi.com’s and almost
half of skyy.com’s in-depth
visits were from underage
youth.
Alcohol industry “responsibility advertising”
• “…no one can match the alcohol industry’s long-term
commitment to public-service advertising that discourages
underage drinking…”
– Jeff Perlman, American Advertising Federation
Captain Morgan “party”
Alcohol industry
“responsibility advertising”
•A “mixed message.”
•From 2001 to 2007, youth 12-20
were 22 times more likely to see a
product ad for alcohol on television
than an alcohol industry
“responsibility” ad.
Does the industry “target” youth?
• Siegel et al. 2008, using CAMY data:
– Census of alcohol advertisements in 20
national magazines, 2001 to 2003
– Number of alcohol advertisements in
magazines increases significantly with the
proportion of youth readers, even after
controlling for young adult readership.
– Published in Contemporary Economic
Policy, July 2008
Does the industry “target” youth?
• Siegel et al., using CAMY data:
– Larger analysis of advertisements in 118 national
magazines, 2002 to 2006
– Compared advertising schedules for beverages
most popular with youth to those least popular
with youth
– Controlled for cost of advertising, size of young
adult readership, median income of readers, etc.
– In magazines with highest youth readerships, youth
alcoholic beverage types were more than four
times more likely to advertise than adult alcoholic
beverage types.
– Forthcoming, Journal of Adolescent Health
Does the industry “target” youth?
• Chung et al., using CAMY data:
– Census of 608,591 advertisements on
cable television, 2001 to 2006
– Each one-point increase in the percentage
of the audience that was adolescent was
associated with more beer (+7%), spirits
(+15%), and alcopop (+22%) ads per viewerhour, but fewer wine (-8%) ads (P<.001 for all).
– Forthcoming, American Journal of Public
Health
Bottom line
• Whether intentional or not, current beer and distilled
spirits industry practices pervasively over-expose youth to
alcohol advertising
• This overexposure is responsible for a substantial
proportion of youth exposure to alcohol advertising:
– 77% of magazine exposure
– 58% of radio exposure
– More than a third of TV exposure
• Presentation only covers measured media – one small
subset of marketing. Other key areas: product placement,
sponsorships, Spring Break, campus marketing, sports
marketing, point of purchase, etc.
Product Placement
• Many examples:
– Kahlua in
Catwoman
– Coors in Scary
Movie 3
– Carlsberg in
Spiderman
– Heineken ($10
million) in Matrix
Reloaded
Anheuser-Busch: Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins, Seabiscuit, Spider Man, Oceans
Eleven, Terminator 3, Dodgeball, Collateral, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets,
Jerry Maguire, Children of a Lesser God, Mission Impossible, Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective, Forrest Gump, The Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, Dirty Dancing, Working
Girl, Top Gun, Rain Man, Erin Brockovich and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Hip-hop and alcohol
• ‘“Smart marketers” know that hip-hop
influenced campaigns sell products –
especially among hard-to-reach 12-to-35-yearolds.” (Adweek, 3/14/2005)
• From 1979-1997, hip-hop songs with
references to alcohol increased five-fold
(from eight to 44 percent). (Herd D, Addiction, 2005)
• “…rap music has been profoundly affected by
commercial forces and the marketing of
alcoholic beverages.” (Herd D, Addiction, 2005)
Viral Marketing on the Internet
• Smirnoff Ice
“Tea Partay”
– Never broadcast
– More than 5
million hits on
Youtube to date
– Sequel has more
than 3 million
hits
RESPONSES TO PROMOTION
School-based approaches
• General literature suggests that schoolbased approaches are at best
insufficient.
• Some evidence that media resistance
skills, combined with drug resistance
skills, can make difference at the
individual level.
• Environment needs to reflect messages
given in schools.
Promotion policy interventions
• Placement restrictions
– Outright ban easiest to implement and most
effective, but not always possible
– % of audience (proportional to youth?)
– Time watersheds (e.g. nothing before 10 p.m.)
– Physical placement restrictions, i.e. outdoor
advertising near schools, libraries, playgrounds
– Restrictions on public transit advertising
Potential Impact of 15%
• CAMY estimates that if alcohol companies had
moved all their advertising to programming
with youth audiences less than 15% in the first
ten months of 2004
– Youth exposure to alcohol advertising would have
fallen by 20%
– Alcohol industry spending on television advertising
would have fallen by 8%
– There would have been virtually no effect on the
industry’s ability to reach either 21 to 34 year-olds
or 21 to 24 year-olds.
Promotion policy interventions
• Warning on advertisements
– Some evidence they may be effective
• Ban alcohol industry sponsorship of events
– Especially those appealing to children or families
• Prohibit distribution or sale of alcohol
promotional items
– “Trinkets and trash” strong predictors of alcohol use
– Prohibition could be limited to minors but much less
effective
• Litigation to prevent industry marketing abuses
Promotion policy interventions
• “Equal time” for public health counter-advertising
– Effective on tobacco in U.S., provided ads are hard-hitting
– Funded in the U.S. at the state level through tobacco tax
increases
Alcohol advertising reform: state and local
• First amendment limitations do not apply when
the state is the “speaker”
• Local and state authorities can reduce youth
exposure to alcohol advertising on public
property:
– Public transit and stations
– Sports, concert and other arts facilities
– Public post-secondary schools
– Parks and recreational centers
– Public publications (maps and tourist materials,
magazines, etc.)
Attorneys-General
• AGs role in tobacco key
• Bringing attention to the issue
• Playing a role in negotiations with alcohol companies
– Movement towards less then 30% threshold
• Beam Global, Sazerac principles
– Other measures to reduce exposure including:
• Selective binding to reach 21+ audiences
• Removal of ads from issues going to schools/libraries
• Removal of several alcoholic energy drink brands from the
marketplace, although others remain
Evidence Base for Effects of Reducing
Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising
• An econometric study published in Health Economics in 2006
predicted that 28% decrease in alcohol advertising would lead to a 4%
to 16% drop in monthly youth drinking, and an 8 to 33% drop in youth
binge drinking. (Saffer and Dave 2006)
• A demography-based test of likely effects of several alcohol policies on
youth drinking behavior in the U.S. concluded that a complete ban on
alcohol advertising would be the most effective for reducing premature
mortality.
– Complete ban: 7,609 fewer deaths from harmful drinking and a 16.4%
drop in alcohol-related life-years lost.
– Partial ban: 4% drop in alcohol-related life years lost. (Journal of Studies
on Alcohol 2006)
• An analysis of the impact of evidence-based interventions on disabilityadjusted life-years (DALYs) in 12 regions of the world found that in
regions where heavy drinking is less prevalent, targeted strategies
such as brief physician advice, roadside breath testing, and advertising
bans would be most effective. (Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2004)
“Social aspects organizations”
• Another form of promotion – in this case, of corporate
image
• Influence alcohol policies at national and
international levels
• Become members of relevant non-alcohol specific
organizations and committees (“innocence by
association”)
• Recruit scientists, host conferences and promote
high-profile publications reflecting industry point of
view
• Create other SAOs in emerging markets and lowincome countries
• Prepare and promote “consensus” statements and
codes of practice
SAO Perspective
• Patterns of drinking are the best basis for
alcohol policies
• Responsible drinking can be learned
• Public/private partnerships will increasingly
influence alcohol policy development
• Beverage alcohol industry will strengthen its
self-regulatory mechanisms
• Alcohol – despite its potential for abuse –
confers a net benefit on society.
Two dominant frames
• Market Justice
– Self-determination and
self-discipline
– Rugged individualism and
self-interest
– Benefits based solely on
personal effort
– Limited obligation to
collective good
– Limited government
intervention
– Voluntary and moral
nature of behavior
• Social Justice
– Shared responsibility
– Interconnection and
cooperation
– Basic benefits should be
assured
– Strong obligation to the
collective good
– Government involvement
is necessary
– Community well-being
supersedes individual
well-being
Industry framings
• What’s needed is more personal
responsibility, not government
regulation.
• As a precursor to taking personal
initiative, education can solve the
problem.
• If the issue involves children or youth, it
is the parent’s responsibility.
Public health framings
• Alcohol: “Too many liquor stores detract from the quality
of life. It is not fair that certain families are subjected to
such degraded conditions. Every family should have the
opportunity to raise their children in a healthy
environment. The city should make a rule to limit the
number of liquor stores allowed within a certain radius.
• Tobacco: “While we have achieved great progress in
reducing smoking, there are still large populations,
primarily in low income communities of color, that are
regularly exposed to toxic secondhand smoke. It is not fair
that some of our cities’ workers are protected and others
are not. We should enact uniform clean indoor ordinances
to protect workers in all workplaces, including restaurants
and bars.”
• This is a battle over what kinds of communities and what
kind of world we want to live in…
YOU can make a difference!
www.camy.org