ADVERSARIO, Trizia T.

S12-11

Alcoholism among youth remains prevalent as alcohol companies extends its advertising expenditures
and means, relative to the increasing amount of young consumers. A number of researches have indicated
a positive association between alcohol advertisement and youth alcoholism. According to Nicholls J.
(2012), alcohol companies have responded to the rise of digital marketing in the current 21st century by
repositioning their marketing focus, thus hinging promotion of engagement with potential young
consumers. Additionally, affective responses of youth towards beer advertisements suggest their familiarity
and awareness of alcohol advertisements, as that they were able to correctly identify brands from still
photographs of commercials (Wallack, Cassady, & Grube, 1998). Exposure of the adolescents to alcohol
advertising via mass media that normalizes habitual drinking culture, promotes puffery, and disregards
responsible alcohol advertising stimulates their desire of alcohol consumption.

Anderson P. (2009) outlined in his research titled, “Impact of alcohol advertising and media
exposure on adolescent alcohol use: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism,”
that the normalization of frequent drinking culture among young consumers in certain advertisements
imposes positive expectancies and attitude towards alcohol. Moreover, the respondents (youth) perceive
greater social approval in drinking, thus expects into drinking more as they reach adulthood. With this,
alcohol companies find more ways to appeal to the potential consumers. A good example for this is
companies creating alcoholic beverages for women which claims to be “fitness friendly” and “guilt-free”
alcohols, so that they can consume more frequently, especially during International Women’s Day (Emslie,
2019).

Several alcohol advertisements use puffery− these are exaggerations and opinions with little to no
credible evidence to prove their vague claims. According to Bussiness Dictionary (2009), puffery may be
tolerated as long as they do not amount to misrepresentation, wherein they falsely claim that the product
possesses positive attributes, thus, puffery is technically accounted as a legal marketing strategy in the
business industry (LaMance K., 2014). However, since the youth is vulnerable into believing such claims,
they fall victim to puffery advertising. A good representation of puffery is the Heineken advertisement
claiming that their beer is suitable even for people as young as toddlers due to its minimal alcohol content.

In some previous cases, advertisements, specifically alcohol commercials were banned due to its
disregard of responsible alcohol advertising. Enforcement of the regulation of alcohol advertisements
proves to be poorly executed as some advertisements still surface mass media platforms. According to the
Liquor Reform Act of 1998, “Advertising or promotion of liquor should not incorporate images of people
who are, and appear to be younger than 18 of age, unless there is no suggestion of that they consumed, are
consuming, or about to consume liquor,” because it uses imagery that are likely to appeal to youth into
consuming alcohol. With the Heineken advertisement as an example, it uses an imagery of a toddler
drinking the alcohol beverage, suggesting that it is completely fine even for the consumption of young
children.
 Conclusively, the vulnerability of the youth group to alcohol advertisements emboldens the intention
of drinking liquor, especially with the amounts of advertisements present in the current society. The
propagation of alcohol advertisements depicting frequent drinking and puffery, and poor enforcement
advertising regulations contribute to youth alcoholism. On account of the pervasiveness of such
advertisements, society must inaugurate effective legislations of criterion for appropriate advertising for
the general audience.

References:

Nicholls J. (2012) Everyday, Everywhere: Alcohol Marketing and Social Media—Current Trends.
Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/47/4/486/82788/

Grube, J. W. & Wallack, L. (1994). Television beer advertising and drinking knowledge, beliefs, and
intentions among school children. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 254–259.

Anderson P. (2009) Impact of alcohol advertising and media exposure on adolescent alcohol use: A
systematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23789068

Emslie C. (2019) How alcohol companies are using International Women’s Day to sell more drinks to
women. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-alcohol-companies-are-using-international-
womens-day-to-sell-more-drinks-to-women-113081

Bussiness Dictionary (2009) What is Puffery? Retrieved from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/puffery.html

LaMance, K. (2014) A study on ethical issues in advertising and analyzing different unethical
advertisements with results of asci decisions: An indian perspective. Retrieved from
http://ecoforumjournal.ro/index.php/eco/article/download/245/259

VCGLR (2017) Responsible alcohol advertising and promotions. Retrieved from

https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/resources/education-and-training/responsible-alcohol-advertising-and-
promotion