The effects of alcohol advertising on youth attitudes toward drinking and driving

102 Pages·2017·3.06 MB·English

Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Dissertations
1986
The effects of alcohol advertising on youth attitudes
toward drinking and driving: a preliminary study
David Glenn Miller
Iowa State University
Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd
Part of theJournalism Studies Commons,Mass Communication Commons, and thePublic
Relations and Advertising Commons
Recommended Citation
Miller, David Glenn, "The effects of alcohol advertising on youth attitudes toward drinking and driving: a preliminary study " (1986).
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 299.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/299
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The effects of alcohol advertising on youth attitudes
toward drinking and driving: A preliminary study
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by
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,., / David Glenn Miller
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A Thesis Submitted to the
Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
Major: Journalism and Mass Communication
Signatures have been redacted for privacy
Iowa State University
Ames Iowa
I
1986
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DEDICATION iv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6
The drinking and driving problem 6
The role of alcohol advertising 8
CHAPTER III. REASONS FOR UNDERTAKING THE STUDY 29
The ban of alcohol advertising 29
Teen driving while intoxicated in Iowa 32
Citizen Organizations 34
CHAPTER IV. METHODOLOGY 38
~. Survey sample 38
Procedure 39
Conceptual framework 41
Data analysis 42
Hypotheses 42
CHAPTER V. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 43
Survey data in Table form 43
Crosstabular results for different variables 65
Results using Pearson Correlation Coefficients 12a
CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSIONS 73
Summary 14
Future study 16
111
BIBLIOGRAPHY 78
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 81
APPENDIX A. ALCOHOL ADVERTISING INSTRUMENT AND QUESTIONNAIRE 83
APPENDIX B. HUMAN SUBJECT COMMITTEE 89
APPENDIX C. ILLUSTRATIONS 91
iv
DEDICATION
This master's thesis is dedicated to my mother, Mary Alice,
whose love, encouragement, support, and guidance made it all
possible for me to continue my education. It is truly indeed a
privilege to call you mother because you've stuck by me through
thick and thin, no matter what the situation may have been, you
were always there. At this point, the author would like to thank
her for the many contributing factors which are accredited to the
completion of this thesis, including the many motivating
telephone calls, the financial support, and most of all
believing in me. Again, thank you. May God bless and keep you
always in his care.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
Drinking and driving has received more carefUl research than
other alcohol related problems. One thing this research tells us
is that alcohol advertising appears to contribute to certain
forms of problem drinking (Atkin et al., 1983). Another is that
there is a moderately positive correlation between the amount of day
to day exposure to beer, wine, and liquor ads and both excessive
alcohol consumption and drinking in hazardous contexts such as
automobile driving (Atkin et al., 1983).
Evidence indicates that advertising stimulates
consumption levels, which in turn leads to heavy
drinking and to driving in dangerous situations
(Atkin et al., 1983, p. 313).
Alcoholic beverages are advertised on many radio and TV
programs which draw their audience because of their content. In
fact, the programs associated with alcoholic beverage advertising
are so varied that they are likely to be encountered by most
people. From TV sports games to news and drama, in the
ever-present spot commercials, in magazine ads and on billboards,
advertisements for alcoholic beverages and other products assail
almost everyone, including children. Producers of alcoholic
beverages also get a considerable amount of free advertising from
the media, as do producers of cars and cigarettes, in that these
products are used in films, plays, stories, and other
entertainment features (HcCarty, 1964).
2
In terms of exposure, mass-media advertising of alcoholic
beverages probably reaches a large proportion of the available
audience (McCarty, It is possible for these ads to have a
196~).
much more significant impact than any other ads.
However, important questions must be raised about the
effectiveness of mass appeals in changing the opinions and
behaviors of the people they reach. There are many factors which
work against these communications. For example, the exposures
are clearly incidental to the person's main purpose in attending
to the medium (McCarty, 1964). While this may make it seem
logical to discount their having an effect upon attitudes or
behavior, there is no factual basis for doing so (McCarty, 1964).
McCarty (1964) noted that advertisements and entertainment
materials frequently depict alcoholic beverages and their use.
However, alcoholic beverages do not differ from other goods and
services offered to the public. All major industries engage in
sales promotion through the mass media. He also stated that
advertising techniques in every field are skillfUlly designed and
well-budgeted, and alcoholic beverage industry program is no
exception.
Each year, there are thousands of alcohol advertisements
available to audiences of the mass media (Atkin and Block, 1982).
According to industry statistics for 1977, a total of $411
million was spent on national advertising; the largest proportion
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is for beer (48%, mostly on television), followed by liquor (39%,
mostly in magazines), and wine (13%, evenly distributed). Network
TV carried about 5000 beer and 600 wine ads in 1911, mostly
during evening prime-time and weekend sports programs (Atkin and
Block, 1982). Examination of one issue per month of 41 general
and specialized magazines shows that more than 1000 ads appeared
in the eight-month period beginning July 1918. Extrapolating to
the full year and issues of magazines published more than once a
month, it is estimated that these magazines carry approximately
125 beer ads, 160 wine ads, and 2650 liquor ads per year (Atkin
and Block, 1982). According to Atkin and Block (1982), there are
several reasons why alcohol advertising might be expected to
produce drinking by youth: ads may reduce inhibitions that
restrict the consumption of alcohol by showing that this
activity is socially acceptable and normative in society; ads may
persuade non-drinkers or occasional drinkers to consume more
alcohol by portraying rewarding consequences such as
romance/sociability, masculinity/femininity, and escape; famous
or attractive characters in ads may influence impressionable
young people to model their behavior; and advertising may
stimulate regular consumers to acquire and drink more alcohol, by
a simple reminder to act (Atkin and Block, 1982). On the other
hand, advertising impact may be outweighted by peer influence, or
minimized by countervailing social persuasion or personal
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resistance to advertising appeals (Atkin and Block, 1982).
Several countries have banned certain alcohol
advertising practices, and the United States Senate
Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics hearing
raised policy relevant questions concerning the
effects of these messages (Atkin et al., 1983, p. 314).
It was asserted that many millions of American youth are bombarded
every day with thousands of messages about drinking from hundreds
of glamorous, friendly, healthy, adventuresome, sexy, even
famous people telling them the joys and benefits of drinking
(Atkin et al., 1983). This question was raised:
••• how much of it is actually designed to encourage
non-drinkers to start drinking, and to encourage
moderate drinkers to drink more (Atkin et al., 1983, p. 314).
According to a study by the U.S. Department of Transportation
1983, drinking and driving among high school youth is no more of
a problem now than it was in the past decade. This study
indicates that there is no significant increase in the percentage
of students who drink and drive or the incidence of students with
drinking and driving related problems (Alcohol and Drug
Administration, 1983). Studies show that there is no significant
difference in these drinking and driving patterns of freshmen and
seniors, indicating that imbibing remains fairly constant
throughout the high school years (Alcohol and Drug Administration,
1983).
This study seeks to discover if teenagers who drink are more
aware of alcohol advertising than teenagers who do not drink; if
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teenagers with a high awareness of alcohol advertisements are
inclined to drink and drive; if drinkers have a higher recall
of alcohol advertising slogans and jingles than students who do
not drink; finally, if drinkers tend to pay closer attention to
alcohol advertising but would say they aren't influenced by alcohol
advertising.