Wassup?! With Alcohol
Television Commercials?
By: Erin Small
At any given time a person can turn on their
television and find a commercial of some sort. Their main purpose is for them
to throw information about their product to anyone who will listen. It is also
common for this form of advertisement to be promoting an alcoholic beverage.
Whether it’s a catchy song with the chorus chanting “This Bud’s for you!” or
three frogs belching “Bud-Wei-Ser!”, viewers learn the slogans and use them in
their own lives. Needless to say, alcohol companies have mastered the art of grabbing
the attention of their audience by imbedding their images and words through
commercial advertising. Although clever, these advertisements can be misleading
their viewers to think that drinking brings unattainable excitement and
pleasure rather than the serious consequences that frequently arise.
Statistics for drinking are alarming for any
age group. However reports about adolescent drinking are possibly the most
alarming, and are a large indicator that alcohol advertisements mislead their
audiences. The National Institute on Media and the Family has reported many
disturbing facts about the false portrayals of alcohol consumption. For
example, the institute reports that “by the time teenagers reach driving age,
they will have seen 75,000 alcohol ads” (Baran, 2004, p. 445). This means that
adolescents are exposed to almost 13 alcohol advertisements a day. Whether it’s
subtle or obvious, children still get the message that alcohol consumption
leads to parties and happiness. In fact, statistics show that “56% of children
in grades 5 through 12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink”
(Baran, 2004, p.445). By the use of image advertising, alcohol companies are
able to make that kind of misleading effect on their audience.
In the article, “The Appeal of Image
Advertisements” by Katherine Covell (1992), image advertisements are defined as
advertisements that depict a certain lifestyle that is “designed to emphasize
the image that can be gained and/or projected by the use of the product” (p.3).
Usually there is very little about the actual product at all and few statements
about the specific characteristics of the brand. They do provide, however,
information on where the product can be found and an exaggeration of its
effects on the audience’s lives. Additionally, “the more highly valued the
image, the more persuasive the ad is expected to be” (Covell, 1992, p.3), and
since our culture encourages alcohol consumption in order to have a good time,
alcohol commercials play-off that information as much as they can. For example,
children look up to their parents and stereotype them positively, and since
alcohol is considered an adult activity, they also tend to stereotype alcoholic
consumption positively. Along with the association of alcohol and adulthood,
advertisements are to blame for the misleading assumptions that drinking is
also associated with athleticism, strength, beauty, fun, and sophistication.
This most definitely leads to premature drinking because adolescents are always
striving for these values.
If people are constantly exposed to alcohol
commercials, then why is it that we don’t warn the audience about their
misleading advertising? In the article, “Effects of Alcohol Warnings and
Advertisements,” by Angela Lapin and David P. MacKinnon (1998), the authors
define the boomerang effect of alcohol warnings. Although there has been a rise
in counter-arguments (i.e. public service announcements, school and community
prevention programs, warning posters, and federal mandated warnings), research
has shown that they hurt the cause as opposed to helping. The boomerang effect
expresses just this: “drinkers perceive alcohol as having more benefits when
the warning is present” (Lapin, McKinnon, 1998, p.3). Alcohol is almost like a
forbidden fruit, which makes the idea even more exciting and its consumers to
feel as though they are overcoming the infringement on their own rights.
This research, as discomforting as it is,
makes it almost impossible to find a solution to overcoming the misleading
information handed out through alcohol commercials. As long as alcohol is sold,
it will have to be advertised with the enthusiasm and appeal that it does now,
in order to maintain the consumer’s attention. Sadly enough, this has to be
done through false conditions which will steadily impact our society’s view of
drinking.