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Effects of Alcohol Advertising on Young Adult’s Consumption
Erica K. Biby
CAS 204
Dr. Troester
12/10/14

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Effects of Alcohol Advertising on Young Adult’s Consumption
Abstract
This study focuses on the effects that alcohol advertising has on young adults, ages 18 – 23, and
whether or not these young adults are influenced through the ads to buy and consume more
alcohol. Qualitative data was used through surveys that were sent out through emails and
Facebook. Results were analyzed and recorded onto an excel spreadsheet and shown through
the use of graphs and charts. The researcher came to the conclusion that alcohol
advertisements do influence young adults to buy and consume more alcohol. Most young
adults were influenced by the ads without even realizing they were influenced. Overall, there
was a positive relationship between alcohol advertisements and young adults buying and
consuming alcohol.

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Introduction
An alcohol advertiser’s intent is to influence the choice, behavior, opinion and buying
habits of the consumer. In recent studies, researchers have tried to determine whether or not
there is an effect on the buying habits of young adults (between the ages of 18 and 23 years
old) and alcohol advertisements. The basic argument that will be presented in this paper is that
there will be a positive relationship on young adults through the process of alcohol advertising,
in that advertising will be persuading their buying behaviors. In the following sections I will
explore the link between alcohol advertisements and intentions to buy more alcohol. I intended
to expand upon research already gathered about the subject.
Problem Statement
Alcohol advertising had been around since before the prohibition, it has been here to try
to influence the choices and attitudes of people buying their product. However, during the
prohibition and sometime after it, alcohol advertising was removed. But even though the
advertising was no longer allowed there was still a desire for alcohol. Today, when there are
tons of advertisements for people to see, I want to look at if these advertisements are going to
affect young adults any, if at all.
Review of Literature
Now that I have introduced our topic and purpose for the project I am going to look at
the existing literature. Communication scholars and researchers have long been concerned with
advertising and how it attempts to influence people’s behaviors and buying habits. In order to
understand the effects alcohol advertising, I am going to examine the following areas in existing

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literature. Alcohol advertisements first become a problem in the study of communication when
a ban was placed on alcohol advertising, 1936 for radio and 1948 for television (Wilcox, Schulz,
& Kim, 2012). The ban was finally lifted in 1996 by the American liquor industry by implying
First Amendment issues (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). David Jaffee from the Association of
National Advertisers said “we clearly believe any legal product has the right to advertise in any
medium as long as it is done responsibly” (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012).
Other studies that were looked at examined how alcohol advertisements affected young
children. Kenneth Fleming, Esther Thorson and Charles Atkin examined “whether the impact of
alcohol advertising exposure on intentions to drink and actual consumption is mediated by
cognitive responses to advertising messages and positive expectancies about alcohol use”
(Fleming, Thorson & Atkin, 2004). The results showed that alcohol advertising was influential in
shaping young people’s attitudes and perceptions about alcohol advertising messages (Fleming,
Thorson & Atkin, 2004).
Rebecca Collins, Phyllis Ellickson, Daniel McCaffrey and Katrin Hambarsoomians
furthered this research in their study of examining exposure, response to, and awareness of
beer advertising in 2 different age groups of 1,996 fourth graders and 1,525 ninth graders
(Collins, Ellickson, McCaffrey, and Hambarsoomians, 2004). The study found that 14% of 4th
graders and 20% of 9th graders recognized at least 3 out of 4 sample beer ads (Collins, Ellickson,
McCaffrey, and Hambarsoomians, 2004). Seventy-five percent of 4th graders could name the
brand it advertised and when asked to list as many beer brands as they could, almost 29% of 4th
graders listed 3 or more beer brands and 83% of the 9th graders did so (Collins, Ellickson,
McCaffrey, and Hambarsoomians, 2004).

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Another study that looked at youths was by Leslie Snyder, Frances Milici, Michael Slater,
Helen Sun, and Yuliya Strizhakova who tested whether alcohol advertising expenditures and the
degree of exposure to alcohol advertisments affect alcohol consumption by youth (Snyder,
Milici, Slater, Sun, and Strizhakova, 2006). This study found that youths who saw more alcohol
advertisements on average drank more (Snyder, Milici, Slater, Sun, and Strizhakova, 2006). Also
youths in markets with more alcohol advertisements showed increases in drinking levels in their
late 20s (Snyder, Milici, Slater, Sun, and Strizhakova, 2006).
Theoretic Expectations
Scholars have previously debated the role of advertising on consumption of various
products (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). However, until Borden (1942) formed the theory of the
economic effects of advertising, the area lacked comprehensive perspective (Wilcox, Schulz, &
Kim, 2012). He noted that, ‘because advertising for a product can vary by the nature of the
market and the maturity of the product category, advertising may produce varying effects at
both the aggregate and brand consumption levels’ (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012).Meaning in
expanding markers aggregate advertising expenditures may have a positive effect on
consumpation, while in declining or established markets advertising will probably impact only
selective consumption (Wilcox, Schulz & Kim,2012). Almost 40 years later, Albion and Farris
(1981) offered two similar economic perspectives of advertising’s role in the marketplace
(Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). The first view, the market power model, views advertising as a
persuasive communication tool capable of changing consumer tastes and establishing brand
loyalties (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). The second view, information view, contends that
advertising increases consumers’ price sensitivity and stimulates competition among companies

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in the market (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). Albion and Farris agree with Borden’s view that
adverting may be useful in increasing the consumption of a particular product, but only within
favorable social and economic climate (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). These studies provide a
starting point for the further study of the economic effects alcohol advertising has on young
adults.
Many studies credit Albion, Farris and Borden’s theories but there are some that
question the validity of this research. To start out I am going to look at a study done by Gary
Wilcox, HeatherSchulz and KyungOk Kacy Kim, Liquor Advertising and Consumption in the
United States: 1971-2008. Using time-series analyses, this study looks at the relationship
between distilled spirits expenditures and consumption in the US from 1971-2008 on a
collective and brand level (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012) This article states that since the ban on
alcohol advertising has been lifted there has been an increase on liquor per capita sales (Wilcox,
Schulz, & Kim, 2012). A study was done and found that beer and wine advertising had a
significant impact on both beer and wine demand, but liquor advertising had no effect on liquor
demand (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). A different study found that beer advertising had a
significant influence on beer and liquor demands, and that wine and spirits advertising reduced
the demand for beer (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). The article goes on in explaining the
relationship between the two different advertisements. It describes it as a cross-category
similarity and a give-and-take relationship in that beer consumption increases when wine and
liquor adverting is slow (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). For the experiment, there were six
specific brands of alcohol that were examined; Bacardi, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Absolut, Jack
Daniels, and Crown Royal (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). The results showed that while

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advertising expenditures for distilled spirits were not significantly related to aggregate
consumption, three of the top six brand sales exhibited significant, positive relationships with
electronic media advertising (Wilcox, Schulz, & Kim, 2012). Alcohol advertising appears to
support the brand in the marketplace instead of impacting the overall consumption of the
category.
J.L. Atkin, M. McCardle and S.J. Newell’s article The Role of Advertiser Motives in
Consumer Evaliations of ‘Responsibility’ Messages from the Alcohol Industry used the
attribution theory examine how advertisers motivate consumers. According to the attribution
theory, individual are social perceivers who make causal inferences about events they observe
and experience in order to understand the world around them (Atkin, McCardle. & Newell,
2008).
Survey of Literature
Another article I read was the Constructions of Masculinity in Alcohol Advertising:
Implications for the Prevention of Domestic Violence by Alison Towns, Christy Parker, and Phillip
Chase. This article was about advertising that is targeted towards young men so it was helpful
towards our hypothesis. The authors researched literature on alcohol advertising, masculinities
and gender relations, and assed the relevance to domestic violence prevention (Towns, Parker
& Chase, 2012).They were interested in whether advertising used to promote alcohol draws
from representations of traditional masculinity, which are associated with men’s domestic
violence towards women (Towns, Parker & Chase, 2012).). Researchers have found that alcohol
advertising that promoted ‘cool’ identities and lifestyles and that was entertaining or funny was

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effective engaging young people. They believe that men, particularly young men, consume
alcohol in much greater quantity than women and are thus a target for profit (Towns, Parker &
Chase, 2012).). Beer advertisements are stereotyped towards the heterosexual couple in the
late 1950s. These advertisements were an attempted to reclaim beer from its ‘working class’
origins be associating it with the ‘prosperous and happy middle class couple’ (Towns, Parker &
Chase, 2012).). These advertisements did not last because people did not want to associate
beer with women (Towns, Parker & Chase, 2012).). This article is going to be helpful to look at
to understand alcohol advertising targeted towards the younger generation.
Another article that supported our problem statement was Exploring Life Themes and
Myths in Alcohol Advertising through a Meaning-Based Model of Advertising Experiences by
Betty J. Parker (1998). This study was done to a group of college students who were exposed to
alcohol advertisements. These students were asked how life experiences influence the
consumers’ experiences of advertisements and also how the powerful alcohol-related “myths”
identified in previous analyses are also identified by the targets of the ads (Parker, 1998). A
study found that consumers do indeed believe misleading advertising claims, even ones to be
“exploitively misleading” (Parker, 1998). The high levels of experimentation with alcohol
suggest that young people may be vulnerable to many influences encouraging the initiation or
establishment of drinking patterns, including themes and messages in alcohol advertising
(Parker, 1998).Although the study found alcohol advertising to sway drinking patterns, is one of
many influences, price, availability and social influences being some others in affecting
consumption (Parker, 1998). The study found that life themes were evident in the informants’
experiences of alcohol advertisements and that suggested that people make connections

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between advertisements and the very core issues of their lives (Parker, 1998). The alcohol ads
providing comfort for on participant and for another the ads provided one more example of the
need to be in control (Parker, 1998).
Methodology
Given the nature of alcohol advertising quantitative research methods offer the most
appropriate approach. Specifically surveys will be used to answer the question if advertising
influences young adults to consume more alcohol. Surveys are the best way to find out if
alcohol advertisements have an effect on people. Advertisements will be shown on the survey’s
and people will be asked if it has an influence on them. Conducting an experiment would be
harder to control because one cannot control the influence of people on other people. The
treatment group would have influences outside of alcoholic advertisements and the researcher
would not be able to tell which medium the participant was influence by.
There are two different sections of the survey. The first section was taken from a survey
found online. This section asks demographic questions, a yes or no question that asks if one
already drinks or not, and multiple choice questions about which medium the participant
receives his/her alcohol advertisements from, what time of day they receive these
advertisements, and when and where the participant believes the ads should be welcomed. The
second section was made by the researcher taking several different types of advertisements
and asking if and how the ad influenced the participant.
The group of participants that were sampled was young adults from the age 18 to 23. In
order to be a participant one had to answer yes on the survey when asked if they drink alcohol.

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Other than this fact anyone within the age group was able to participate in the study. All of the
participants lived in the Erie area at one point in their lives. This population was chosen because
the researcher is also form the Erie area. The survey was sent through email and Facebook to all
participants. The participants were asked to complete the survey within a week. Participants
were also able to send the survey back via email or Facebook, or return a printed out version in
person. Once the surveys are collected, the results will be entered on an Excel spreadsheet for
analysis.
Results
The hypothesis that there will be a positive relationship on young adults through the
process of alcohol advertising was tested using a survey (which can be found in appendix 1) that
was distributed through the use of email and the social networking site called Facebook. Twelve
participants were surveyed and of the 12, 58.3% were female and 41.7% were male. The age
group that was surveyed ranged from participants who were 20 to participants that were 22.
Participants were only asked to take the survey if they currently drank alcohol. The researcher
found that 75% of people that saw or heard alcohol advertisements saw the ads on television.
The next highest medium of alcohol advertisements was billboards and posters where 16.7% of
participants saw their ads. The next question that was asked is how much the participant
believed alcohol advertisements influenced them. This questions was very interesting to the
researcher because even though 58.3% said that the ads only influenced the somewhat later
admitted in other survey questions that the ads shown completely influenced them to go out
and consume the drink shown in the ad. A question was also asked about what types of alcohol
was consumed most often by the participants to see if those types influenced the participant’s

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opinion on whether or not they were influenced by the alcohol ad. Those results are
represented in the graph below.
Participants were also asked to rank which type of advertisements influenced them the most.
Simple ads that just show the drink were ranked number most often. Ads that showed animals
were ranked second most often, although no one ranked it first at all.
The next six questions that were asked showed different brands of alcohol for each
question. The brands that were used were Budweiser, Captain Morgan, Corona, Bacardi, Jack
Daniels and Yuengling. The results are shown in the table below.
0
2
4
6
8
Results of Alcohol Type
Consumption
Q6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Yes actual drink
Yes some type
No not at all

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Jack Daniels had the highest percentage of participants saying they wanted to consume that
certain drink with the percentage of 50%. The ad was a simple advertisement that just showed
the drink which relates to the number one ranked type of advertising. However, the ad also
showed the slogan “Keep Calm and Drink Jack Daniels”, which is a famous slogan used to
persuade many different items.
Conclusion
This study found that there was a positive relationship between alcohol advertisements
and people buying and consuming more alcohol. Although most participants said that the ads
only influenced them somewhat, they contradicted themselves later in the survey when they
said that the ads shown influenced them to buy and consume the alcohol shown. Most people
don’t realize when they are being influenced by advertisements so they believe that they are
not affected by them. For this reason the researcher believes that this is why most participants
said they were only influenced somewhat by alcohol ads.
The survey shows support for the researcher’s hypothesis because there was not one ad
that did not affect at least one of the participants. One can see from the table shown that every
single ad influenced someone. It was interesting to the researcher to find that the most iconic
ad, the Budweiser Clydesdales, was the least effective one the participants. This was one of the
ads that the researcher though was going to be the most effective on participants. Also it was
interesting that the simple Jack Daniels ad influenced people the most. However, this statistic
did correspond with which type of ad was most influencing on participants. Jack Daniels and
Corona were the only two ads that participants said yes they were influenced more than saying

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no they were not. Jack Daniels results showed that it was the only ad to have the participants
say yes they were influenced to buy that certain drink more than both of the other answers.
Corona’s results only outranked the “No, it does not have any influence on me” answer with
the “Yes, it influences me to drink some type of alcohol”.
The limitations that the researcher had with this study were the amount of participants,
not having every ad available and not showing multiple types of ads from a single brand. In
future studies more participants would make the study more diverse and possibly have a
different answer. The amount of participants limited the diversity of answers for survey
questions 8 through 13. With more participants there could have been greater gaps in the
answers. Another limitation was not having every type of ad available. Without having every
type of ad one cannot see which ad influenced participants the most. One last limitation was
that the researcher didn’t think of showing different types of ads from one brand. If this was
done then the researcher could have really seen what type of ad influenced participants the
most. In future research, researchers should take in to account that alcohol brands do make
many different types of advertisements.
In conclusion, this study helped the researcher find that advertisement due have an
influence on people whether they want to admit it or not. Although most people don’t realize
they are being affected by the ad they definitely are. Every single ad influences at least one
person in some way and alcohol advertisers know this so that is was they use so many different
types of ads.

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Reference Page
Atkin, J., McCardle, M., & Newell, S. (2008). The role of advertiser motives in consumer evaluations
of 'responsibility' messages from the alcohol industry. Journal of Marketing Communication, 14(4),
315-335. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from ProQuest.
Austin, E., Chen, M., & Grube, J. (2006). How Does Alcohol Advertising Influence Underage
Drinking? The Role Of Desirability, Identification And Skepticism. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38,
376-384. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from ProQuest.
Collins, R., Ellickson, P., Mccaffrey, D., & Hambarsoomians, K. (2004). Saturated in beer:
Awareness of beer advertising in late childhood and adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 29-
36. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from ProQuest.
Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Atkin, C. (2004). Alcohol Advertising Exposure and Perceptions: Links
with Alcohol Expectancies and Intentions to Drink or Drinking in Underage Youth and Young
Adults. Journal of Health Communication, 9, 3-29. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from ProQuest.
Grube, J., & Wallack, L. (1994). Television Beer Advertising And Drinking Knowledge, Beliefs, And
Intentions Among Schoolchildren. American Journal of Public Health, 254-259. Retrieved November
28, 2014, from ProQuest.
Jung, A., & Hovland, R. (2013). Targeting gender: A content analysis of alcohol adverting in
magazines. American Academy Of Advertising Conference Proceedings, 116-117. Retrieved
September 8, 2014, from Business Source Premier.
Morgenstern, M., Isensee, B., Sargent, J., & Hanewinkel, R. (2011). Exposure to alcohol advertising
and teen drinking. Preventive Medicine, 52, 146-151. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from ProQuest.
Parker, B. (1998). Exploring Life Themes and Myths in Alcohol Advertisements through a Meaning-
Based Model of Advertising Experiences. Journal of Advertising, 27.1, 97-112. Retrieved September
8, 2014, from Communication & Mass Media Complete.

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Snyder, L., Milici, F., Slater, M., Sun, H. & Strizhakova. Y. (2006). Effects Of Alcohol Advertising
Exposure On Drinking Among Youth.Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 160(1), 18-24.
Retrieved November 29, 2014, from ProQuest.
Towns, A., Parker, C., & Chase, P. (2012). Constructions of masculinity in alcohol advertising:
Implications for the prevention of domestic violence. Addiction Research & Theory, 20.5, 389-401.
Retrieved September 10, 2014, from ProQuest.
Wilcox, G., Kim, K., & Schulz, H. (2012). Liquor Advertising and Consumption in the United
States:1971-2008. International Journal Of Advertising, 31.4, 819-834. Retrieved September 10,
2014, from Communication & Mass Media Complete.
Wyllie, A., Zhang, J., & Casswell, S. (1998). Positive responses to televised beer advertisement
associated with drinking and problems reported by 18 to 29-year-olds.Addiction, 93(5), 749-760.
Retrieved November 22, 2014, from ProQuest.

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Appendix 1
Alcohol Advertising
This project is being done as a part of the requirements for a communication research course at Penn S
tate Behrend. It is only a class project. The
information will not be published or shared beyond the classroom setting. Your participation is voluntar
y and your identity will be kept anonymous
and confidential. Any survey or interview materials will be destroyed following the conclusion of the co
urse.
The researcher is asking these questions to find out if there is a connection between alcohol advertise
ments and young adults buying'consuming
more alcohol.
Please fill in the blanks with the best possible answer
1.
Gender:
2.
Age:
For questions 3-5, please choose one answer from the options provided
3.
Do you currently drink alcohol? *
yes
no
4.
Where is the most frequent place you see or hear alcohol ads?
On the TV
On the radio
In a movie

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On a billboard/poster
On the Internet
Other
5.
Do you believe that seeing or hearing alcohol advertisements makes you want to buy or
consume more alcohol?
Yes, it influences me
No, it has no effect on me
It influences me somewhat
For question 6 choose as many options that apply to you
6. What type of alcohol do you normally drink? *
Beer
Rum
Vodka
Whiskey
Wine or Brandy
Gin
Other
Please rank the following as most important to you to least important
7.Rank which types of alcohol advertising influences you the most? *
Celebrity endorsement ads
Attractive men or women ads

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Ads showing people partying
Simple ads that just show the drink
Ads showing a relaxing time
Ads with animals
Look at the images and answer the questions accordingly
Corona Beer
8.
Does this advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, I want to go out and buy Corona
Yes, I want to go and buy some type of alcohol
No, it has no effect on me
Bacardi

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9.
Does this Advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, it makes me want to buy Bacardi
Yes, it makes me want to buy some type of alcohol
No, it has no influence on me
Budweiser

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10.
Does this Advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, it makes me want to get Budweiser
Yes, it makes me want to get some type of alcohol
No, it has no influence on me
Jack Daniels
11.
Does this Advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, it makes me want to get Jack Daniels

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Yes, it makes me want to get some type of alcohol
No, it has no influence on me
Yuengling
12.
Does this advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, it makes me want to get Yuengling
Yes, it makes me want to get some type of alcohol
No, it has no influence on me

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Captain Morgan
13.
Does this advertisement influence you to buy or consume alcohol? *
Yes, I want to go out and buy Captain Morgan
Yes, I want to go and buy some type of alcohol
No, it has no effect on me