Hands off Our Holidays :: The Super Bowl, Alcohol and Your Child

Of the hundred-million viewers who will tune in to the Super Bowl this February, an estimated twenty percent of those viewers will be youth under the age of twenty-one. If your child is one of the young people watching the Super Bowl, he or she will undoubtedly be exposed to alcohol advertising. Each year, members of the alcohol industry are among the various companies around the globe who spend millions of dollars on advertising during this widely viewed event, often purchasing more ad space than any other company.

Since alcohol is the leading drug problem among youth today, with nearly 8,000 youths drinking alcohol for the first time each day, and research has shown that kids who are frequently exposed to alcohol advertising are twice as likely to drink than children with low exposure to such marketing, the Drug-Free Coalition of Tippecanoe County would like to encourage you to take advantage of this time as an opportunity to spend time talking to your kids about the dangers of alcohol use. Try these talking points to get the conversation going:

• Start by discussing the facts and fiction of advertising in general. How do ads sometimes send false messages? What messages do commercials send us about alcohol use? What messages do commercials NOT tell us about alcohol use? Remind your child that ads don’t show them everything that can happen when people drink.

• Talk with your kids about good reasons not to drink.
• Brainstorm ideas for how to handle peer pressure.
• If your family hasn’t discussed policies and expectations for staying alcohol-free, use this time to do so.
• Be clear and consistent about the policies your family decides upon.
• Don’t forget to listen to what your child has to say. A listening ear is a valuable tool for keeping kids safe and healthy.

Research compliments of The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth. For more information, visit camy.org. For further suggestions on talking to your kids about alcohol, visit The Face Project.

Hands off Our Holidays: Guest Post

Marin Voice: Super Bowl beer ads take a toll on young viewers
By Annan Paterson
Guest op-ed column

SWEET COLTS running freely in a pasture. Funny lizards in imaginary swamps. Goofy and hip young adults in funny situations.

No, this is not Saturday morning television; these are Super Bowl Sunday beer commercials and they are coming to you and your kids very soon, and they are not youth friendly.

Parents and educators face an upstream battle against the polluted stream of alcohol that surrounds youth in our society. Alcohol advertising during the most watched TV sports event of the year, in particular, must be confronted.

While we in Marin County have limited budgets for underage drinking prevention, intervention, and treatment, the alcohol industry has hundreds of millions to spend on advertising during the Super Bowl and every other day of the year.

Marin Institute's Free The Bowl Video Contest is a youth call for action to eliminate alcohol ads on TV sports programs.

"Young people are slammed by TV alcohol ads every day of the year," stated Michael Scippa, Marin Institute's public affairs director. "But beer ads on TV sports programs, and especially during the NFL's Super Bowl, are a massive overdose that must be curbed to reduce youth alcohol-related harm."

Research has shown that the more alcohol ads kids see, the more likely they are to drink, drink to excess and drink more often.

In 2009, the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking reported that 5,000 people under the age of 21 die annually from injuries caused by alcohol. Hundreds of thousands more suffer alcohol-fueled sexual assaults, serious injuries, diseases and academic failure.

A new analysis released recently by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shows once again that voluntary industry advertising codes are ineffective.

According to the study, youth exposure to alcohol advertising on U.S. television increased 71 percent between 2001 and 2009. The research also pointed to Bud Light, a mainstay of Super Bowl advertising, as one of 12 brands targeting youth.

The full report, Youth Exposure To Alcohol Advertising on Television, 2001-09, can be found at www.camy.org.

Join us by getting involved in Free The Bowl. It's a start in reducing and, perhaps one day, eliminating the polluted stream of inappropriate alcohol advertising on TV sports events. It's an easy part for all of us to play in making Super Bowl Sunday truly youth friendly.

Visit www.FreeTheBowl.com for all the details.

Hands Off Our Holidays :: Alcohol Advertising and Sports

Every day in the U.S., 4,750 young people under age 16 have their first full drink of alcohol.¹ This is a problem because the earlier young people start drinking, the more likely they are to suffer alcohol-related health and social problems later in life.

While parents and peers have a large impact on youth decisions to drink, research clearly indicates that alcohol advertising and marketing also has a significant effect by influencing youth and adult expectations and attitudes, and helping to create an environment that promotes underage drinking. Exposure to alcohol advertising and marketing increases the likelihood that young people will start drinking, or that they will drink more if they are already consuming alcohol.²

The alcohol industry spends an estimated $6 billion a year on advertising and promotions. While they use various mediums the industry seems to be drawn to sports advertising. The industry has worked hard over the years to create a strong association between sports and alcohol. From advertising on television and the internet, to direct sponsorship of individual athletes, these sports-related promotions reach many children and young adults.

Our youth are continuously over-exposed to alcohol. It is estimated that they are 96 times more likely to see an alcohol promotion than any industry ad discouraging underage drinking. The Alcohol Industry has a hold on advertising especially at sporting events like the Superbowl. We encourage you to stay tuned to our blog posts this week as we discuss the grip that alcohol has on the Superbowl.

¹Gfroerer J. Re: NSDUH figure. Personal communication (e-mail) to Jernigan D, Washington, D.C. Substance

²Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, September 17, 2007. Anderson P, De Bruijn A, Angus K, Gordon R, Hastings G. Impact of alcohol advertising and media exposure on adolescent alcohol use: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism. 2009;44(3):229-243.

Hands Off Our Holidays

This month the Drug-Free Coalition of Tippecanoe County is kicking off our Alcohol Advertising Awareness Campaign. December is the perfect time of year to kick off this campaign because the holiday season is a time when alcohol ads increase. Alcohol advertising can take on many forms:

• in-store beer and alcohol displays
• packaging
  
• use in movies
• alcohol promotional items
• billboards
• television ads
• magazine ads
• internet ads
  

In December the alcohol industry co-opts Christmas in a variety of ways. Co-opting is a practice of the alcohol industry where communities and cultural/holidays celebrations are targeted in hopes of making a larger profit. The alcohol industry knows that if they can equate holidays or celebrations with drinking alcohol, then they can sell more of their products.

In this series titled, "Hands off our Holidays", we will be educating you about the advertising and marketing practices of the alcohol industry. We will also give you tools to use in the community to help us combat this problem.

A prominent example of the practice of co-opting cultural celebrations is most obviously found in holidays such as, Cinco De Mayo and St. Patrick's Day. However, we often notice that alcohol messages and products can be and are often geared toward all holidays. Alcohol companies spend millions of dollars linking holidays and alcoholic beverages. As they do this, they convey a message to the public that says: "The way we celebrate is to drink."

This subject is even more concerning when we think about the impact alcohol advertising has on our youth. Since alcohol is the leading drug of choice among youth today, with nearly 8,000 kids drinking alcohol for the first time each day, the fact that their world is polluted with alcohol advertising is frightening. Whether intentional or not, current beer and distilled spirit companies over advertise to our youth. Research has shown that kids who are frequently exposed to alcohol advertising are twice as likely to initiate drinking than children with low exposure to such marketing. It is for this reason that we are hoping to make a difference in Tippecanoe County and the State of Indiana with regard to alcohol advertising. Raising awareness is the first step to changing the environment. Throughout the year we will bring your attention to co-opting habits of the alcohol industry through blog posts. We may also ask that you take action on a specific items.

It is the hope of the Drug-Free Coalition of Tippecanoe County that members of our community will find meaning in this campaign and will continue to provide help and support as we work to minimize the alcohol advertising that occurs in our community.

Below is a slideshow that will display some of the advertisements that co-opt Christmas:

Hands Off Our Holidays :: Spike the Cookies

The holidays are here and everyone is gearing up for familiar traditions. No Christmas holiday is complete without cookies. There is something about this holiday that requires one to bake. Even the non-baker in the family can be found creating a Christmas Cookie masterpiece on any given day leading up to the Christmas holiday.

Cookies are a part of Christmas and therefore the alcohol industry wants in. While watching TV earlier this month with my husband we were blindsided by a commercial for Jack Daniel's Whiskey. It featured a group of ladies standing in the kitchen baking. It zoomed in on a bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, then in on a batch of freshly baked cookies, then to a lady pouring a large glass of whiskey and sitting down with that and one of the cookies for a snack. The tag line:

"The new recipe for the holidays: Gather friends, Add a splash of Jack, Stir the Conversation. Mix Jack in to your holidays. 'Tis the season to drink responsibly."

The commercial directs you to visit their website, spikethecookies.com. Which takes you to a section of the Jack Daniel's Facebook Page. Which can be accessed by anyone including those under the age of 21. It takes exactly 3 clicks to change your age on Facebook.


Jack Daniel's takes it one step further by encouraging you to share your "traditions with a twist". They ask visitors to leave a message with the ways that you celebrate the holidays with Jack Daniels. You can also create a "spike the cookies" Facebook event for you and your friends, and view recipes online.

In their description on Facebook they cleverly encourage you to drink while baking. "of course, sampling the ingredients while baking is customary".

Jack Daniel's is also providing compensation to women in the blogging world to write about their holiday traditions using Jack Daniel's.

This is just one example of the many ways the alcohol industry tries to get in on our holiday traditions. Not only do adults see these messages but their is no telling how many youth are seeing these commercials, blogs and Facebook posts as well.