Abstract
AimsTo assess the immediate effect of alcohol promoting and alcohol warning advertisements on implicit and explicit attitudes towards alcohol and on alcohol seeking behaviour.MethodsWe conducted a between-participants online experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to view one of three sets of advertisements: (a) alcohol promoting, (b) alcohol warning, or (c) unrelated to alcohol. A total of 373 participants (59.5% female) aged 18–40 (M = 28.03) living in the UK were recruited online through a research agency. Positive and negative implicit attitudes and explicit attitudes towards alcohol were assessed before and after advertisements were viewed. Alcohol seeking behaviour was measured by participants' choice of either an alcohol-related or non-alcohol-related voucher offered ostensibly as a reward for participation. Self-reported past week alcohol consumption was also recorded.ResultsThere were no main effects on any of the outcome measures. In heavier drinkers, viewing alcohol promoting advertisements increased positive implicit attitudes (standardized beta = 0.15, P = 0.04) and decreased negative implicit attitudes (standardized beta = −0.17, P = 0.02). In heavier drinkers, viewing alcohol warning advertisements decreased negative implicit attitudes (standardized beta = −0.19, P = 0.01).ConclusionsViewing alcohol promoting advertisements has a cognitive impact on heavier drinkers, increasing positive and reducing negative implicit attitudes towards alcohol. Viewing alcohol warning advertisements reduces negative implicit attitudes towards alcohol in heavier drinkers, suggestive of a reactance effect.
Highlights
Alcohol promoting messages occur in 20% of television advertisement breaks during prime-time broadcasting hours in the UK (Lyons et al, 2014)
Alcohol advertising is prevalent in the USA, where 91% of those aged 12–20 are exposed to televised alcohol advertising (Centre on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2010), and in Australia, where adolescents under the legal drinking age are as likely as young adults to be exposed to alcohol advertisements (Winter et al, 2008; Pettigrew et al, 2012)
In an effort to counter the pervasive nature of alcohol advertising, governments and public health organizations have developed alcohol use warning advertisements that highlight the dangers of alcohol consumption and encourage responsible use
Summary
Alcohol promoting messages occur in 20% of television advertisement breaks during prime-time broadcasting hours in the UK (Lyons et al, 2014). Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2016, Vol 51, No 3 experimental studies investigating the immediate effects of alcohol promoting advertising on alcohol consumption found evidence that a one-off exposure to alcohol promoting advertising may increase amounts of alcoholic beverage consumed following exposure by small amounts, equivalent to between 0.39 and 2.85 alcohol units for males and between 0.25 and 1.81 units for females (K Stautz et al, in preparation). These studies were limited, by a sole focus on undergraduate students as participants and inadequate power to detect small effects. Whilst there is a small amount of observational evidence supporting the effectiveness of these messages in relation to reductions in drink-driving (Agostinelli and Grube, 2002), there is a dearth of experimental studies that test their immediate effects
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