Abstract
Research has shown that young people post a lot of alcohol-related posts (i.e., alcoholposts) on social media and these posts have been shown to increase drinking behaviors. Because social influencers (i.e., individuals with the potential to influence large audiences on social media) may have a strong influence on young people, it is important to know whether and how often they post about alcohol. Furthermore, because by using influencers alcohol brands may have found a way to circumvent regulations that prohibit advertising for minors, it is important to understand whether alcohol brands are visible in influencers’ posts and whether influencers use disclosures (e.g., “#ad”) to notify viewers. In a content analysis of Instagram posts of 178 popular influencers, we investigated: (1) how many and how often influencers post about alcohol, (2) what type of influencers post about alcohol, (3) what the characteristics of influencers’ alcoholposts are, and (4) to what extent these alcoholposts are commercialized (e.g., by showing brands and sponsorship disclosures). Results showed four main findings. (1) The majority of influencers (i.e., 63.5%) posted about alcohol recently. (2) Alcoholposts were positive, showed a social context, and were mostly posted by lifestyle influencers. (3) Although a fair amount of alcoholposts (19.5%) showed a clear alcohol brand, only a few of these posts disclosed this as an advertisement, and even fewer gave an educational slogan (i.e., “#no18noalcohol”). (4) Posts with sponsorship disclosures yielded fewer likes and comments than posts without such disclosures. A post hoc additional study that focused solely on minors confirmed these conclusions. These findings suggest that there is a lot to be concerned about in this context, especially since many minors can be exposed to influencers’ alcoholposts, potentially leading to increased drinking among this vulnerable age group. We therefore advice future researchers to further investigate this topic, and propose that legislation for alcohol advertising needs to be adjusted to account for the context of social networking sites.
Highlights
Frequent and excessive alcohol use are important problems in today’s Western society, especially among adolescents and young adults
Research has shown that alcoholposts from peers on social media can lead to increased drinking among adolescents (e.g., Boyle et al, 2016; Curtis et al, 2018), no studies to date have explored whether and how social influencers, who are likely to have a strong impact on minors (e.g., Berryman and Kavka, 2017), communicate about alcohol
We found that mainly lifestyle influencers posted about alcohol, and that they solely do this in a positive way, and often show a social context
Summary
Frequent and excessive alcohol use are important problems in today’s Western society, especially among adolescents and young adults. The earlier young people start drinking alcohol, the more likely are they to develop alcohol dependence and suffer from serious accidents (Hingson and Zha, 2009). The negative effects of alcohol on brain development are especially pronounced during adolescence (Silveri, 2012). The World Health Organization [WHO] (2006, p.14) advises to “keep children alcohol free and delay the onset of drinking.”. For this purpose, it is vital to gain insight in factors that might influence alcohol use among adolescents. The current study aims to do this by investigating how Instagram influencers, who are popular among minors (e.g., Ofcom, 2017), communicate about alcohol and thereby potentially influence alcohol use among their young audiences
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
