280929
Building a better mousetrap? analysis of one alcohol company's effort at a more restrictive voluntary advertising placement standard
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Alicia Sparks, MPH,
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Background: Numerous longitudinal studies find a relationship between youth exposure to alcohol advertising and youth drinking, making reducing exposure a public health priority. In 2008, Beam Inc. voluntarily implemented new advertising standards that stated that advertisements would only be placed in media where at least 75% of the audience is above the legal purchase age, and an average of 85% of annual aggregate impressions by medium by brand were to persons of legal purchasing age. Methods: Nielsen data were used for television and magazine advertisement placement and audience estimates between2008-2011. Performance against the 75% placement standard and the 85% annual aggregate composition was assessed for Beam brands in each media. The price impact of the new standards and growth in youth exposure to advertising for Beam brands relative to other distilled spirits brands was also assessed. Results: Beam did not meet its standards for placement on programs with at least 75% adult audience (8-22% of advertisements were on programs below this threshold). Beam came close to meeting its standard for the 85% aggregate composition. Results showed that the cost per thousand impressions decreased after the implementation of the new standard and in comparison to other distilled spirits brands. Conclusion: The data presented found that Beam Inc. did not consistently meet the 2008 voluntary standards. Though the findings were mixed, data suggests that the standard adopted by Beam Inc. has the potential to be feasible and cost saving, in addition to reducing negative consequences related to youth exposure to alcohol advertising.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Learning Objectives:
Explain the negative consequences related to youth exposure to alcohol advertising
Describe one company’s compliance with more restrictive advertising standards and the impact on youth exposure, and cost to the alcohol company
Discuss recommendations for future restrictions on alcohol advertising to reduce youth exposure.
Keyword(s): Alcohol, Policy/Policy Development
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a doctoral student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and hold an MPH from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I have worked on a number of federally funded grants focused on alcohol and tobacco prevention at the community level. I am currently a fellow at the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins University, studying youth exposure to alcohol advertising.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
