The response of New Zealand boys to corporate and sponsorship alcohol advertising on television.

Abstract

A survey of a random sample of 302 New Zealand boys aged 9-14 years investigated responses to two recent television advertisements featuring alcohol companies. Alcohol product advertising is not allowed on New Zealand television but a corporate advertisement which was allowed was perceived by most of the children to be advertising beer and to be encouraging drinking. A corporate sports sponsorship advertisement had lower association with alcohol, which may have been because of children's limited understanding of the concept of sponsorship. Most of the children remembered both advertisements and many expected their peers to take notice of them. There was strong support for both advertisements being broadcast on television. Overall, the survey suggested that this television advertising was creating strong positive associations between the companies' products and significant cultural and emotional elements, thus contributing to a climate that was not supportive of alcohol education.