Families in Recovery

Additional research has come out showing again that any alcohol advertising, regardless of the intended audience, leads more kids to drink. From an article in biomedcentral.com (link goes to a press release)

Alcohol advertising and marketing may lead to underage drinking. A large systematic review of more than 13,000 people, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, suggests that exposure to ads and product placements, even those supposedly not directed at young people, leads to increased alcohol consumption.

The authors recommend that counter-advertising, social marketing techniques and other prevention options such as parenting programmes, price increases and limiting availability may be useful to limit alcohol problems in young people.

I would say that there are two elements minimum that are required to have a meaningful long-term impact on this issue.

First, parents and other family members need to be aware that any exposure to alcohol normalizes consumption, an issue particularly felt in alcoholic homes where consumption is constant. When kids see beer t-shirts on dad or Absolute ads in mom’s magazine, this makes it easier and easier for kids to pick up a bottle themselves far earlier than they otherwise would have.

And second, kids need to hear the counter-message. Alcohol is at the heart of many of society’s major problems. From domestic violence to coronary disease to depression, there are few domains where alcohol’s presence is not felt. Especially in younger, developing minds and bodies, the risks of drinking far outweigh any temporary idea of fun. Alcohol leads to half of all sexual assaults, huge increases in serious physical assault and violence, and 40% of all traffic fatalities. And the list goes on and on.

Kids need to hear the counter-message, but again in alcoholic homes, any real discussion of the counter-message is typically missing. Heck, these are the kids who are witnessing the counter-message first hand. They see the extremes of the pain alcohol abuse and dependence can cause. And the result for these kids – they are at least 4 times more likely than the rest of the population to abuse and become dependent on alcohol themselves.

A huge, community-wide marketing campaign seems like an appealing response. But I would want to do a bit more research first. Some studies have shown that any exposure to alcohol normalizes it – even campaigns meant to counter the problem. So who do we target – the kids or the parents? And do we try and scare people – think of the ‘brain on drugs’ ads? Or do we merely try and teach them? Or do we offer alternative messages, affirming ones, that take the focus off the problems and put it on the solutions instead. I am leaning towards the final option.