Saw It on Facebook, Drank It at the Bar! Effects of Exposure to Facebook Alcohol Ads on Alcohol-Related Behaviors

Alhabash, Saleem; McAlister, Anna R.; Kim, Wonkyung; Lou, Chen; Cunningham, Carie; Quilliam, Elizabeth Taylor; Richards, Jef I.

doi:10.1080/15252019.2016.1160330

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…7 Evidence for the effect on behavioral intentions, a proposed component of reflective processing, also has been established in the context of traditional and social media. 77,87,88…”

Section: Psychological Processes Underlying Media and Marketing Influmentioning

confidence: 99%

Media/Marketing Influences on Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Abuse

2018

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Purpose of review We describe the state of research on substance use portrayals in marketing and media, considering exposure to tobacco, alcohol, e-cigarette, and marijuana content. Putative mechanisms are offered, and recommendations made for effective prevention strategies for mitigating the influence of these portrayals. Recent findings There is consistent evidence that adolescents and young adults are highly exposed to substance use portrayals and that these portrayals are associated with subsequent substance use. Exposure via new media (social networking sites, brand websites) has risen rapidly. Social norms and cognitions appear to at least partially account for the effects of portrayals on youth substance use. Summary Digital media has surpassed traditional marketing, which is concerning because youth have on-demand access to content and are active consumers of digital media. Developmentally appropriate media literacy interventions that include a parenting component and target multiple substances and media domains are recommended.

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“…7 Evidence for the effect on behavioral intentions, a proposed component of reflective processing, also has been established in the context of traditional and social media. 77,87,88…”

Section: Psychological Processes Underlying Media and Marketing Influmentioning

confidence: 99%

Media/Marketing Influences on Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Abuse

2018

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“…Evidence suggests that alcohol-related persuasion attempts affect drinking intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms. For example, exposure to public health campaigns reduced alcohol consumers' intentions to drink (Dixon et al, 2015), whereas exposure to alcohol advertising increased intentions to drink (Alhabash et al, 2016;Christie, Fisher, Kozup, & Smith, 2001). Research also demonstrated that more positive attitudes towards alcohol adverts (Fleming, Thorson, & Atkin, 2004) and more positive attitudes towards alcohol (Goodall & Slater, 2010) after exposure to alcohol advertising predicted intentions to drink and willingness to engage in risky drinking behaviour, respectively.…”

Section: Theory Of Planned Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 96%

Individual differences in attentional processing of responsible drinking statements in alcohol packaging, public health campaigns and alcohol advertising among alcohol consumers

Kersbergen¹

2017

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We live in an environment in which alcohol is easily available and widely marketed. Alcohol advertising has been shown to increase long-term and short-term alcohol consumption. On the other hand, governments and industry use warning labels and public health campaigns to inform the public of the harmful effects of alcohol in an attempt reduce alcohol-related harm. There is not much evidence that labels and campaigns affect drinking behaviour, but evidence from other domains suggests that individual differences in attentional processing might moderate effects on behaviour. In this thesis, I tested the general hypothesis that individual differences in visual attention to alcohol cues and responsible drinking statements would underlie the effect of alcohol-related mass persuasion attempts (i.e., alcohol advertisements, warning labels and public health campaigns) on drinking behaviour and its antecedents, in young adult alcohol consumers. The secondary aim of this thesis was to examine the direct effect of alcohol-related mass persuasion attempts on drinking intentions and alcohol consumption shortly after exposure. To study this, I first conducted a cross-sectional study and a between-subjects experimental study to investigate attention to warning labels on alcohol packaging and examine whether priming participants to direct their attention to warning labels would prompt them to intend to drink less alcohol. Findings suggested that existing UK warning labels did not attract substantial attention and the amount of attention that participants directed to them did not affect their drinking intentions (Chapter 2). I subsequently conducted three experimental studies to examine to what extent novel warning labels would capture attention and affect willingness to pay for alcohol. Findings showed that novel warning labels did not attract more attention than existing warning labels, nor did they significantly influence willingness to pay for alcohol (Chapter 3). With regard to televised alcohol advertisements, I conducted a between-subjects experiment in a semi-naturalistic environment to investigate whether alcohol advertising affected proximal alcohol consumption in a brand-specific or general manner. Results suggested that alcohol advertising did not affect drinking behaviour, however methodological limitations mean that these findings should be interpreted with caution (Chapter 4). Next, I conducted two experimental studies to examine how individual differences in visual attention to alcohol cues and responsible drinking statements in alcohol-related television adverts predicted drinking intentions and proximal alcohol consumption. Findings showed that attention to responsible drinking statements did not predict drinking intentions or immediate alcohol consumption, but visual attention to alcohol portrayal (an actor sipping alcohol) in alcohol advertising predicted increased alcohol consumption in the laboratory (Chapter 5). Overall, these findings demonstrate that responsible drinking statements/labels attract limited attention and that increased attention to these labels does not prompt alcohol consumers to intend to reduce their drinking. I found no evidence that alcohol-related persuasion affected immediate alcohol consumption or drinking intentions, but attentional processing of alcohol portrayal in alcohol advertising was associated with increased alcohol consumption shortly after exposure to the adverts. Finally, I conducted a focus group study to explore subjective evaluations of current warning labels and responsible drinking adverts Findings showed that participants did not consider warning labels/adverts to be personally relevant and that they mistrusted the message source. Instead, participants suggested that warning messages focussing on alcohol-related harm (to themselves or others) might be more persuasive. Combined with the findings from the laboratory studies, these findings suggest responsible drinking statements could attract more attention if their content and format were changed. The findings reported in this thesis further our understanding of the role of attention in alcohol-related persuasion. In line with recently published evaluations of public health campaigns and warning labels, these studies suggest that warnings in alcohol advertising and on packaging in their current form have little scope for changing drinking behaviour. Instead, it might be more fruitful to increase the noticeability of warning labels and impose restrictions on alcohol marketing and/or the visual content used within alcohol marketing.

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“…With the lack of age-gating on Twitter, underage youth as well as individuals of legal drinking age are able to see tweets that not only promote alcohol use but its overuse, with potential health-related outcomes. In other words, seeing messages on Twitter that promote intoxication might not only encourage users to consume alcohol and imbibe due to the shear exposure effect (e.g., Alhabash et al, 2016), but can also alter one's normative beliefs related to alcohol use (Viken et al, 2016).…”

Section: Summary Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

140 Characters of Intoxication: Exploring the Prevalence of Alcohol-Related Tweets and Predicting Their Virality

et al. 2018

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Past research has suggested an associative relationship between social media use and alcohol consumption, especially among the younger generations. The current study takes a generalizable approach to examining the prevalence of posting about alcohol on a popular social media platform, Twitter, as well as examining the predictors of a tweet’s virality. We content-analyzed more than 47.5 million tweets that were posted in March 2015 to explore the prevalence of alcohol-related references, and how alcohol-related references, tweet features (e.g., inclusion of hashtags, pictures, etc.), and user characteristics (e.g., number of followers) contribute to the tweet’s virality. Our findings showed that during March 2015, about two of every 100 tweets in the United States were alcohol-related; whereas the majority of those referenced intoxication. In addition to tweet features and user characteristics, the prevalence of alcohol-related references in a tweet positively predicted the number of likes it received, yet negatively predicted the number of retweets. Given prior evidence supporting the association between social media use and alcohol consumption, the prevalence of alcohol references in tweets and how that contributes to their virality offers insights into the widespread phenomenon of glorifying alcohol use and excessive drinking via social media, pointing to potential negative health consequences.

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Saw It on Facebook, Drank It at the Bar! Effects of Exposure to Facebook Alcohol Ads on Alcohol-Related Behaviors

Cited by 27 publications

References 40 publications

Media/Marketing Influences on Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Abuse

Media/Marketing Influences on Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Abuse

Individual differences in attentional processing of responsible drinking statements in alcohol packaging, public health campaigns and alcohol advertising among alcohol consumers

140 Characters of Intoxication: Exploring the Prevalence of Alcohol-Related Tweets and Predicting Their Virality

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