Alcohol ads: Teens targeted?

-- (Credit: EMKAY)Alcohol advertising

A recent study in the us reports that magazines popular with teenagers such as Rolling Stone and People tend to carry more alcohol advertisements. The study hints that the alcohol industry may be indirectly targeting underage drinkers by advertising in such magazines.

The research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, found that a typical magazine carried about 60 per cent more alcohol ads for every one million more teenaged readers. "Kids also read these magazines, and if this is truly a public health concern, then we need to find ways to talk about decreasing adolescent exposure to advertising," opined researcher Craig Garfield of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute in Illinois, usa.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade lobby, countered by pointing out that the study reveals that only 16 per cent of the surveyed magazines' readers are teenagers, indicating that the alcohol ads are seen mostly by adults. The council informed that its member companies "are strongly committed to responsible marketing and advertising policies directed to adults."