Alcohol marketing in televised English professional football: a frequency analysis

Abstract

BackgroundWorldwide, almost 4% of deaths are attributable to alcohol. In the UK, there continues to be a rise in alcohol-related hospital admissions. Alcohol is marketed through an integrated mix of strategies, including TV, radio, and print advertising; point-of-sale promotions; new media approaches such as advergames (ie, advertising in video games); and sponsorship of cultural and sporting events. Systematic review evidence confirms that alcohol marketing increases the likelihood that young people will start to use alcohol and will drink more if they already do so. Association football (referred to as football) is a globally popular spectator sport across all age groups. Little previous research has quantified the full range of alcohol marketing within televised sport and there has been no such research for football or within the UK. We assessed the frequency of alcohol marketing in televised top-class English professional football matches. MethodsA purposive sample of six broadcasts of televised top-class English club football matches broadcast in January and February, 2012, were identified and recorded. The sample was selected to represent the full range of competitions that teams take part in, as well as broadcasts on different days and at different times of day. A customised coding framework was used to identify and categorise all verbal and visual alcohol references, as well as all formal alcohol commercials in the broadcasts. A random two matches were double coded. FindingsThe six broadcasts consisted of 1101 broadcast minutes in total, and one match each from the Barclay's Premier League, nPower Championship, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champion's League, UEFA Europa League, Budweiser FA (Football Association) Cup, and Carling League Cup. The mean UK television audience for these broadcasts was 2·52 million (SD 1·53 million), with a mean of 9·5% (2·2) of the audience being aged younger than 18 years. Double coding revealed discrepancies in the presence of only two visual alcohol references (of 521 in the double-coded broadcasts). Visual references to alcohol were common (mean 111·3 per h, 95% CI 106·6–116·1). Nearly all these references were to beer and they were mainly depictions of simple logos or other branding found on pitch-side advertising hoardings; on the pitch before or after matches; or on-screen around replays, substitutions, and score updates. Verbal alcohol references were much less common (mean 1·7 per h, 95% CI 1·2–2·5) and most of these were related to sponsorship of specific competitions. 17 alcohol commercials were included in the broadcasts, accounting for less than 1% of total broadcast time. InterpretationBecause a purposive sample of only six broadcasts was included, these results are not necessarily generalisable to all televised English football matches. Nor was any attempt made to assess the effect of the marketing identified on alcohol-related intentions or behaviour. The relative effects of different types of alcohol marketing, and how these vary across population groups, remains unclear. In the UK, alcohol marketing is subject to industry self-regulation with a focus on not appealing directly to children; not encouraging overconsumption; and not associating alcohol with social or sexual success, irresponsible behaviour, or illegal drugs. This approach to regulation fails to reflect the nature of alcohol marketing in contemporary televised sport in which most marketing is constant repetition of simple logos. Further development of regulation to represent the alcohol marketing environment is justified. Restriction of all alcohol sports sponsorship, as seen for tobacco, may be warranted. FundingNone.