Term Paper on Television Liquor Ads
Introduction
Youth drinking is out of check in every society in America. Even though it is
illegal and has a deleterious impact on the public health and well being of the
nation’s kin and society. There is no doubt that America has a grave riddle with
unlawful youth drinking in every state and community. Many youths are having
their lives destroyed or are being killed by the utilization of alcohol. Alcohol
consumption meddles with our competence to teach our children. Youth drinking
and its numerous aftereffects are well recorded and make up a national dilemma
of the highest extent. Nearly all the people in America have been influenced by
this problem.
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To aggrandize the situation, young people are at risk because of broadcast
advertising practices. Beer is the most bad form of alcohol as it has been
recorded to be the drug of choice of underage in America youth and causes them
most of the harms. Beer has been flared to the extent that children are enticed
to drink it. Beer advertisements are oftentimes enticing to very young children
by way of their use of various animal characters including frogs and lizards,
and to the teens by attractive glamorized commercials projecting teens and fun.
In America, these teens have been taught by Television advertisements to love
beer, but they are not taught the many negative aftereffects that are often
associated with its use. A horrifying contemporary study from the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism founds out that as the younger the age
of drinking start, there is a greater the chance that an individual, at some
point in life will develop a "clinically defined alcohol disorder," which was
pointed out as either alcohol abuse or alcoholism. The study concluded that the
“young people who began drinking before age 15 were four times more likely to
become alcoholic than those who began drinking at the legal age of 21."
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, said in response to the
study "This study adds new evidence about the need to regard underage drinking
as the serious problem it is." Repeatedly, the alcohol and broadcasting industry
have claimed that the beer and alcohol ads do not cause any harm on youth and
that they jut get people to switch brands. This false claim is very much similar
to the claim by the tobacco industry that cigarettes do not cause cancer and
that they are not addictive. Thus, it is true that beer ads do entice children
to drink. Television advertisement plays a significant role in fueling the fact
that too many of our youth are losing their lives and futures, and families are
being overturned all because of the abuse of alcohol and specifically beer. The
alcohol industry also claims that the mandated blocking of beer and other
alcohol ads is a disallowance of their First Amendment right. To elucidate, this
claim is not right as the health and welfare of the nation’s youth supplants the
profit incentives of an industry that causes more harms than that caused by the
tobacco industry.
Hard facts about alcohol users enticed by TV liquor ads
Advertisers are well aware that children enjoy watching Television and thereby,
take advantage of their encumbrance. The study further reveals that the median
age at which children begin drinking is about 13 years. And that 25 percent of
eighth graders, 39 percent of tenth graders, and 51 percent of twelfth grader
have used alcohol in the past month. Furthermore, 18 percent of eighth graders,
39 percent of tenth graders, and 53 percent of twelfth graders report having
been drunk at least once in the last year. Also 30 percent of high school
seniors reported in 1995 that they had consumed five or more drinks at one
gathering during the preceding two weeks. The study reveals that ¾ of the eighth
graders say it is "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get beer and 15 percent admits
that it is as easy to get liquor. One of the studies conducted in Washington,
D.C. reported that nineteen to twenty years old males were able to buy a
six-pack of beer in 97 out of hundred attempts. Such is the case,
notwithstanding the fact that the purchase and public possession of alcohol by
people under the age of 21 is illegal in all 50 states of America. The gravest
thing to note is that 56 percent of students in grades 5 to 12 say that alcohol
advertising encourages them to drink. Transversely 80 percent of adults surveyed
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in 1988 held that alcohol
advertising entices underage youth to drink alcoholic beverages.
It was also found out that among 9th grade students, alcohol or other drug use,
or an admixture of substances, was the greatest foreteller of premature sexual
activity and failure to use preventive measures. To teens, alcohol use, more
than any other single factor is blamable for more pregnancies, sexually
transmitted diseases, and more HIV infections. High-school students who drink
alcohol beverages are four times more prone to have had sexual intercourse and
twice as inclined to have had four or more sex partner than non-drinkers are.
Such behaviors enhance the risk for HIV infection. In addition, more than 2.6
million students do not understand that a person can die from an overdose of
alcohol. Above 1/3 of high school seniors do not make out the consumption of
four or five drinks nearly every day as necessitating "great risk". Another
study reveals that a projected 259,000 students think that wine coolers or beer
cannot make a person drunk. Drinking among young people places them at larger
danger than their peers for engagement in crime as either characters or victims.
Alcohol use is combined with vexing criminals, acting susceptible and failing to
take usual, common sense providence to avoid being victimized. Also, alcohol is
a factor in the three capital causes of death for 15-24 year-olds, namely
accidents, homicides, and suicides. In 1996, 16 to 24 year-old drivers with
blood alcohol contents of .10g/dl or greater were accountable for over 2600
deadly main road accidents. Further, the use of alcohol by college students is a
factor in 40 percent of academic problems, 28 percent of dropouts, and 80
percent of acts of willful destruction. Another study revealed that about 95
percent of vicious crime on college campuses is alcohol-related and 90 percent
of all reported campus rapes involve alcohol use by the victim or the abuser.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that in 1995 there were 11
million underage drinkers, of which two million were hefty drinkers. Another
study in 1996 revealed that 61 percent or high school seniors reported that they
had been drunk at least once during the last year. The most important point to
note is that young people have easy access to beer and liquor and begin drinking
at a median age of 13 years. Youth drinking is prevalent unhindered in middle
school and high school, with over 80 percent of high school students saying that
they had used alcohol at least once.
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Underage drinking consequences
Consequently, early drinking habits in young people, whose bodies are not
completely developed and are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol, can
sustain numerous serious alcohol-related problems. Incapable to contend with
their problems in a right manner, these teenagers drink when they are disturbed,
irked or wants to feel high. Their alcohol consumption multiplies the
probability that they will take on in early and unsafe sex, resulting in
pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. There is also a
resolute link between alcohol abuse, suicides and violent crimes, such as
domestic violence, sex-related crimes, and physical assaults, marred driving
accidents and homicides. Moreover, alcohol use performs a consequential role in
all capital causes of death for people between the ages of fifteen and
twenty-four.
Liquor ad and aftereffects
Marketing alcohol advertising results in high-risk consumption of alcohol and
underage drinking. Not knowing sufficient information about the effects of
alcohol consumption, individuals, particularly youth, can be easily affected by
alcohol advertisements that revitalize drinking habits and contribute to
alcohol-related problems. Every year, young people are unveiled to approximately
2,000 beer and wine advertisements on television. Late figures hinted at that
beer and wine industries are expensing more than $750 million on broadcast
advertising. Numerous of these ads are aired during programs with big youth
audiences and comprise of images that appeal instantly to youth. To cite an
instance, 56% of children between grades 5 and 12 have said that alcohol
advertising abet them to drink. Supplementary studies indicate that
advertisements enlarge young people’s cognizance and emotional response to
products, their capability to distinguish brands, their urge to possess or use
advertised products and their capability to recall advertisements. Further study
shows that those who have watched beer advertising on television are inclined to
drink beer and do so more repeatedly than adults.
Furthermore, certain alcohol advertisements utilize special techniques to entice
youth audiences. A study explicates that the alcohol industry’s utilization of
advertising styles to attract youth noticing, "alcohol advertising specifically
targets young people by showing the supposed advantages of drinking--more
friends, greater prestige, more fun, and greater sex appeal. And suggesting that
without alcoholic beverages teens cannot have fun or be popular." Beer companies
put to use animal characters, like the Budweiser Frogs, in addition to models
who look under 21 and are engaging in juvenile activities, like beach parties.
The second-largest seller of distilled spirits “Seagram” once ran 30 seconds
commercial for Crown Royal whiskey that allured to graduating seniors, many of
whom were underage. The advertisement featured a dog, the "valedictorian,"
carrying a fifth of Crown Royal to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance, " the
music millions of teenagers hears at graduation.
The alcohol industry’s induction of its ads in the television program and media
also mirrors its locus on youth audiences. Famous alcohol companies have shown
ads on television and radio stations that are resolutely patronized by youths
and at the time periods in which at least half of the audience was underage. To
cite an instance, a University of Michigan study on the attraction of beer
advertising to youth found that most of young people had seen advertisements for
Budweiser, Bud Light and Coors, and found the ads hard to resist. 99 percent of
the youth surveyed conjectured seeing the Budweiser Frog ads, 92 percent liked
them, and 38 percent said that the ads make drinking seem more tempting.
Furthermore, a notable amount of alcohol advertising occurs during sports
programs, particularly the Super Bowl, which has a large youth audience.
Furthermore, according to a survey by Advertising Age, Seagram has purchased
time for its ads in the first place during sports and prime time programming.
These spots have run at the time of the World Series and NFL games on Fox
outlets, as well as during "Cosby" and college football games. More Seagram’s
ads ran during "NFL Monday Night Football”, that has an average weekly viewing
audience of about 3 million people between the ages of 2 to 20. Another
distiller, Hiram Walker & Sons, has run advertisements for its Kahlua-based
drink on programs in 22 local markets, as well as during programs popular with
teens and pre-teens.
Legal attempts
Attempts to prohibit alcohol have also had a long history, with equally mixed
results. During the Clinton administration, the government had pushed to outlaw
advertising hard liquor on television, and tobacco ads were banned from radio
and television. But the consequent led to another direction. According to an
opinion, there basically are two forms of advertising that is the informational
and persuasive. Informational ads let buyers know about a new product, or about
a new supplier of existing products. Where as persuasive ads in general attempt
to woo buyers from one well-known brand to another. Liquor ads tend to fall into
this later category. Such sorts of ads very seldom mention price and focus on
intangible benefits, such as quality of life, taste, "coolness" and so on.
Regulatory authority and further suggestion
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates these liquor ads on
television, and it should be noted that the FFC should adopt a rule mandating
that beer commercials and all other alcohol advertising be coded to enable
parents to block them from their home television sets using FCC recently
approved V-Chip technology. In this way, this prohibiting mechanism would not
only limit liquor ads viewing by youth, but also reduces the many problems
discussed above.
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