DENVER – Underage, adolescent alcohol drinkers who endorse a favorite brand are significantly more likely to report recent binge drinking than are those who have no favorite brand.
In addition, the amount of money a company spent on television advertising to promote its brand was directly associated with choice of brand and increased risk for problematic alcohol use, according to a nationally-representative survey of 2,699 individuals aged 16-20 years.
"Underage drinkers preferentially choose highly advertised brands as ‘favorites.’ This suggests that marketing is indeed influencing their choice of beverage," Dr. Susanne E. Tanski said at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
Based on the findings, physicians could screen patients for problem drinking if they endorse a favorite brand. Doctors also could advocate for an increase in the voluntary advertising restrictions for "hard alcohol" television advertising to protect underage drinkers, Dr. Tanski said. Currently, such advertisements are placed only in media where at least 70% of audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years or older.
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Both girls and boys who chose Coors beer as their favorite were at particularly high risk for binge drinking.
"If you turn on [ESPN] SportsCenter any night, you see a tremendous number of alcohol ads," said Dr. Tanski, who is on the pediatric faculty at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported they had ever tried alcohol (1,734 adolescents, 64%), and almost 21% had binged in the previous 30 days. Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks at a time.
Of those who had ever had a full drink (not a sip or taste), 68% said they had a favorite brand. "We took anything they told us. It was a long list [158 brands], but some we were not able to verify (e.g, ‘X-Ray’)."
Favorite drinks included a distilled spirit brand by 53%, beer brand by almost 43%, and wine/cider by nearly 3%. The remaining drinks were unknown brand names. Results suggest that the distilled spirits industry is making inroads into the adolescent market, the authors stated.
"The winner for this was Smirnoff, and a close second was Budweiser," Dr. Tanski said. As a caveat, she added, she and her colleagues did not distinguish between hard liquor brands and their malt beverage drinks (for example, Smirnoff vodka was not distinguished from Smirnoff Ice or Bacardi rum from Bacardi Breezers).
In addition, favorites varied by sex, with girls more likely to endorse Smirnoff and boys more likely to say Budweiser was their favorite. A meeting attendee asked if Dr. Tanski differentiated between advertising geared toward men or women. "Most of Budweiser ads are advertised to men, but there are some geared to women also. That is something we can certainly look at."
Girls also chose, in order, Budweiser, Corona, Grey Goose, Bacardi, Captain Morgan, Coors, Skyy, Miller, and Absolut as their top favorites. Male adolescents, after Budweiser, chose Smirnoff, Coors, Corona, Miller, Captain Morgan, Heineken, Grey Goose, Jack Daniels, and Bacardi.
Binge drinking within the past 30 days did not differ significantly between those who endorsed a favorite distilled spirit vs. a beer brand. Another significant difference was binge drinking prevalence among those teenagers who reported a favorite alcohol brand, which ranged from 28% to 71% depending on brand, vs. 11% among those with no favorite.
Overall prevalence of binge drinking was 25% among girls and 39% among boys. Both girls and boys who chose Coors beer as their favorite were at particularly high risk for binge drinking. For example, 70% of the boys who said they were likely to binge drink chose Coors as their favorite brand. Miller beer and Grey Goose vodka also scored high for binge drinking among girls, as did Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan among boys.
A significant correlation between brand preference among these adolescents and marketing expenditures suggest marketing plays a role in choice of a favorite brand. Using the most recent data available from Nielsen, Budweiser spent $1.1 billion on television advertising in 2009. Smirnoff advertising expenditure was $63 million during the same year, Dr. Tanski said, "So they got a lot of bang for their buck."
In 1996, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States lifted its voluntary ban on "hard alcohol" advertising on television, starting with cable TV. The major television networks began allowing such advertisements in 2001, when NBC aired a Smirnoff ad during Saturday Night Live. More recently, in 2009, CBS aired an Absolut advertisement during the Grammy Awards. "As you all well know, there is lot more hard alcohol or distilled spirits advertising on major networks now," Dr. Tanski said. ABC, which is owned by Disney, has not aired "hard alcohol" advertising.