David H Jernigan, PhD, Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, Georgetown University, 2233 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Suite 525, Washington, DC 20007, 202-687-0613, djernigan@aol.com

Policy debates over alcohol advertising have largely been based on anecdotal data, public opinion data or specific complaints from the public. In an effort to provide a factual basis for these debates, The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and provided it with three years of funding to produce within that time a legacy of data and policy recommendations. The Center has produced a series of reports documenting youth exposure to alcohol marketing in the measured media of broadcast, print and outdoor. Based on advertising industry-standard databases such as Nielsen and Arbitron, and using industry-standard measures of advertising exposure such as gross rating points and gross impressions, these reports have demonstrated the ineffectiveness of alcohol industry self-regulation in protecting youth from greater exposure per capita to alcohol advertising than adults in many venues. These reports have been disseminated through the news media as well as in the peer-reviewed literature. The presentation will review the sources, methods and key findings of this research.

Learning Objectives: