D'Oh! Homer never has a hangover and Marge always takes him back: Content analysis of alcohol messages on popular television shows

Background: The purpose of this pilot study is to describe trends in alcohol portrayals on entertainment TV programs most popular among 12-20 year olds in order to explore normative influences on youth drinking. Methods: Nielsen data were used to identify five TV programs in each year between the 2002/2003 season and the 2011/2012 season with the highest number of 12-20 year-old viewers. One random episode from each of the five programs, for each of 10 years was used to perform a content analysis of alcohol portrayals, for a total of 50 episodes analyzed. Results: Adult cartoons (e.g. Simpsons, Family Guy) rated highly among 12-20 year old viewers. Over 85% of TV episodes contained drinking or a reference to drinking. In 96% of drinking occasions, no consequence (n=128, 84%) or a positive consequence (n=19, 12%) of use was portrayed. In 94% of drinking occasions, no consequence (n=140, 87%) or a positive consequence (n=11, 7%) to others was portrayed. Conclusions: Viewers engage and identify with their favorite TV characters and many develop parasocial relationships with their "social surrogates". These relationships lead to increased potential for imitative behaviors. When a child recognizes there are little to no consequences of alcohol use, be it after drinking one beer or 10, the viewer will be more likely to expect the same results in reality. With more than 4500 young people in the U.S. dying every year from alcohol use, the message environment produced and transmitted by entertainment television is of public health concern.