Alcohol imagery on New Zealand television

Rob Mcgee,Juanita Ketchel,Anthony I Reeder

doi:10.1186/1747-597x-2-6

Rob Mcgee, Juanita Ketchel + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597x-2-6

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Abstract

BackgroundTo examine the extent and nature of alcohol imagery on New Zealand (NZ) television, a content analysis of 98 hours of prime-time television programs and advertising was carried out over 7 consecutive days' viewing in June/July 2004. The main outcome measures were number of scenes in programs, trailers and advertisements depicting alcohol imagery; the extent of critical versus neutral and promotional imagery; and the mean number of scenes with alcohol per hour, and characteristics of scenes in which alcohol featured.ResultsThere were 648 separate depictions of alcohol imagery across the week, with an average of one scene every nine minutes. Scenes depicting uncritical imagery outnumbered scenes showing possible adverse health consequences of drinking by 12 to 1.ConclusionThe evidence points to a large amount of alcohol imagery incidental to storylines in programming on NZ television. Alcohol is also used in many advertisements to market non-alcohol goods and services. More attention needs to be paid to the extent of alcohol imagery on television from the industry, the government and public health practitioners. Health education with young people could raise critical awareness of the way alcohol imagery is presented on television.

Highlights

To examine the extent and nature of alcohol imagery on New Zealand (NZ) television, a content analysis of 98 hours of prime-time television programs and advertising was carried out over 7 consecutive days' viewing in June/July 2004
Alcohol imagery is widely shown in a variety of visual media including children's animated films [1], music videos [2], reality television [3], televised sports [4] and advertising [5]
In a longitudinal cohort study set in Dunedin NZ, boys who were able to recall more advertisements for beer at age 15 years, reported drinking more beer when assessed three years later at age 18 years [6]

Summary

Introduction

To examine the extent and nature of alcohol imagery on New Zealand (NZ) television, a content analysis of 98 hours of prime-time television programs and advertising was carried out over 7 consecutive days' viewing in June/July 2004. In a longitudinal cohort study set in Dunedin NZ, boys who were able to recall more advertisements for beer at age 15 years, reported drinking more beer when assessed three years later at age 18 years [6]. This was the first longitudinal demonstration of a predictive relationship between alcohol advertising on television (TV) and later consumption. In a study of Norwegian adolescents, for example, higher levels of exposure to television containing incidental portrayals of alcohol were associated with the development of normative beliefs that drinking is a usual teenage behav-

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