The influence of ads on alcohol consumption
A study showed that people drank more when exposed to movies and ads containing alcohol. It does seem like a very novel theory. The same arguments were used against cigarettes and cigarette ads were pulled from TV. Similarly, many shows started to cut down on use of smoking, except to portray negative images. The research, led by a team from Netherlands, placed young people in groups and showed them two different movies, with varying references to alcohol, and ads, some with alcohol, some without. They also placed a refrigerator in the room, filled with soft drinks, beer, and wine. They did not state what the results were for all groups, but they did report that those watching the movie with excessive alcohol references and alcoholic ads drank nearly 3 bottles of alcohol as compared to 1.5 bottles for the group who watched the movie with less reference to alcohol and no alcohol ads. But several questions pop up. First, what was the behaviour of the groups in the middle? Did they control for alcoholic consumption patterns before the test? How would they account for the behaviour of one group, if that group had been placed in a different one? For example, what would have happened had the group that watched the movie with less reference to alcohol and no alcohol ads been put in the group that watched the movie with excessive alcohol references and alcoholic ads? Would they have increased their consumption? Obviously, they would have to run the study over a period of time to account for all variables. But did they? Though I believe people can be influenced by what they see, they may also be influenced by their peer group. Therefore, if they are in a group that is likely to drink alcohol, they will more likely participate. I am not discounting this study, but there are some unanswered questions and it would not be fair to completely ban alcohol from movies and ads based on just this one.
