Alcohol Advertising on Billboards, Transit Shelters, and Bus Benches in Inner-City Neighborhoods

Abstract

We describe the structure, content, and neighborhood characteristics of outdoor alcohol advertisements (n=246) in inner-city neighborhoods in ten U.S. cities from 2003 to 2005. We conducted observations of alcohol advertisements on billboards, transit shelters, and bus benches in all ten cities to describe the structure and content of outdoor alcohol advertising. We also created geo-spatial maps to describe the neighborhood characteristics where alcohol billboards were located in San Francisco, CA and Atlanta, GA. Alcohol advertisements were more common on billboards than transit shelters or bus benches, usually featured beer products, emphasized product quality, had a discreet or moderate (vs. blatant) visual impact, and rarely used human models. Outdoor advertisements on transit shelters and bus benches were rare. In Atlanta (but not San Francisco), alcohol billboards were more prevalent in African-American neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with higher percentages of female-headed households. Results suggest that billboards continue to be the mainstay of outdoor alcohol advertising in inner cities.