Study: Magazine alcohol ads target youth
BOSTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Alcohol companies are aiming their magazine ads at youth, researchers at Boston University and Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University found.
Study co-author Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health, said the study provides strong evidence the companies are targeting underage youths.
The researchers compared 13,513 alcohol advertisement placements in 118 magazines from 2002 to 2006. In magazines with the highest levels of youth readership, youth alcoholic beverage types -- such as premium beer, low-calorie beer, rum, vodka, and flavored alcohol beverages -- more than four times more likely to be advertised than non-youth types of alcohol -- gin, brandy, whiskey and scotch.
As youth readership increased in a magazine, so did the number of youth alcoholic beverage advertisements, the study found.
"Alcohol companies are deceiving us," Siegel said in a statement. "Contrary to their public statements, they are targeting youth through their advertising. They are saying one thing, but doing another."
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/12/07/Study-Magazine-alcohol-ads-target-youth/UPI-44361260214955/