Youths More Likely Than Adults to See Alcohol Marketing Online.

Underage youths are nearly twice as likely to recall seeing alcohol marketing on the Internet than adults, with almost one in three saying they saw alcohol-related content in the previous month, according to a new study co-authored by a School of Public Health researcher.

The study, published online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research and led by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that young people between the ages of 13 and 20 who responded to an online survey also were more likely than adults surveyed to report seeing or hearing alcohol marketing within the previous month in traditional outlets. For television, 69 percent of youths reported seeing alcohol marketing, including television, versus 62 percent of adults; for radio, 25 percent versus 17 percent; and for billboards, 55 percent versus 35 percent. The greatest difference between adults and youths occurred when asked about exposure to alcohol advertising on the Internet: 30 percent versus 17 percent.

The authors said the findings underscore previous research suggesting that youth may be impressionable to many of the messages conveyed by alcohol marketing—for instance, that drinking can lead to happiness and social acceptance.

The survey examined participants’ social media engagement with other types of alcohol-related content besides advertising. It found that youth liked, shared or posted alcohol-related content online in greater proportions than adults, including celebrities using alcohol (11 percent versus 6 percent) and pictures of their friends or peers using alcohol (14 percent versus 10 percent).

For their survey, the researchers used a national sample of 1,192 youth ages 13 to 20, and 1,124 adults age 21 and older, drawing on a database maintained by GfK Custom Research. The survey was administered from September to October 2013, and examined exposure to alcohol advertising and promotional content in traditional and digital media in the past 30 days, as well as other types of online alcohol-related content.

More than one-third of the youth respondents recalled seeing pictures online of celebrities using alcohol in the past 30 days, compared to 21 percent of adults. Meanwhile, 28 percent of youth recalled seeing pictures of celebrities wearing clothes or other items with an alcohol brand’s logo or name on it as opposed to 16 percent of adults.

The authors said the findings may not mean that youths are seeing more alcohol advertising than adults, but that they are more likely to recall the advertising.

Alcohol is the number one drug of choice among young people in the US, and excessive alcohol use is responsible for an average of 4,350 deaths every year among people under the legal drinking age of 21. At least 24 studies have found that young people under the legal drinking age who are more exposed to alcohol marketing are more likely to start drinking early and also to engage in binge drinking.

In the US, alcohol advertising and marketing are primarily self-regulated by the alcohol industry, with the industry setting its own guidelines with respect to limiting exposure to young people.

Craig Ross, research assistant professor of epidemiology, was a co-author on the study. It was led by David Jernigan of Johns Hopkins, with contributing authors from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Maryland, College Park. The research was supported, in part, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.