|
 The videos often resemble traditional ads but may escape public
health notice or parental controls, the study authors write in the
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
“YouTube has become one of the largest video-sharing platforms but
often goes under the radar in studies,” said lead author Dr. Brian
Primack of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
“Brands are extremely important when it comes to youth and alcohol
consumption,” he told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.
“Sometimes the key transition occurs when a young person is more
susceptible to branding.”
Primack and colleagues looked for videos with brands that are
popular among underage drinkers and appear in pop culture,
specifically Bud Light, Coors Light, Grey Goose, Hennessey, Jack
Daniel’s, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Patron and Smirnoff. They analyzed
137 videos published between 2006 and 2013 looking at factors like
production quality, actors’ traits such as sex and race/ethnicity,
as well as positive and negative associations with alcohol use.
They found that videos averaged about two minutes in length and had
about 116,000 views each, totaling nearly 97 million views for all
137 videos. About 60 percent were classified as having professional
production quality. Some 40 percent of videos were considered
traditional advertising and other common categories were music
videos or concerts, as well as “chugging” videos.
“We didn’t expect the biggest category to be traditional ads, which
means this is a method that marketers are using to reach youth,”
Primack said. “They’re getting a lot of bang for their buck,
especially when people repost these videos online.”
The video types and messages tended to vary by brand, too. For
example, 83 percent of those that featured Bud Light were
traditional ads, as compared to 18 percent of the Grey Goose videos
and none of the Patron videos.
Related to positive associations with alcohol use, more than 80
percent of Bud Light and Coors Light videos featured humor.
Similarly, all of the Patron-related videos but none of the Bud
Light-related videos portrayed intoxication. Only Grey Goose and
Jack Daniel’s videos had references to addiction or dependence. Most
negativity was seen in music videos, which tended to portray heavy
drinking and a “gritty” lifestyle, the study found.
Most videos weren’t uploaded by the companies themselves, but rather
were derived from concerts, parties and music videos sponsored by
the companies or individuals who uploaded and tagged a video as
“humor.”
[to top of second column] |
“What online alcohol promotion has resulted in is social media users
becoming unsolicited brand ambassadors for alcohol companies,” said
Adam Barry of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, who
wasn’t involved in the study, in an email.
“Even if they don’t go looking for these messages, alcohol
promotional materials will come right to the computer in their
pocket when someone else tags, likes, or shares it, and when an
update dings, they’ll view it,” said Barry, whose own research has
found that youth often have easy access to alcohol promotions on
YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
YouTube added an Age Gate in 2012 to block inappropriate content
from underage users, but some links are still accessible. Primack
says he and colleagues aren’t suggesting that teens can be prevented
from viewing these videos or that parents should solely focus on
limiting exposure.
“That’s not feasible,” he said. “What would be useful is supporting
more media literacy and encouraging young people to analyze what
they see.”
Future studies could look at the specific messages being portrayed
in the YouTube videos that play on themes such as rebelliousness,
impulsivity and experiences that go against authorities such as
parents and teachers, he noted.
“What we can discuss with kids is how that isn’t the reality,”
Primack said. “Instead, the forces trying to manipulate them are the
alcohol industry. The brands are trying to attract new drinkers.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2xMWLVb Journal of Studies on Alcohol and
Drugs, online September 21, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
