Preventing Adolescent Binge Drinking:


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Change Social Norms: Introduction

Strategies and Approaches to Change Social Norms

What Communities Can Do

What Parents Can Do

What Agencies Can Do

What Schools Can Do

Strategies & Approaches › Change Social Norms › Pressure Television and Radio Broadcasters

Pressure Television and Radio Broadcasters

Pressure television and radio broadcasters to stop carrying alcohol ads that target youth, and to carry counter-ads that accurately portray the effects of alcohol. When crafting prevention messages and programs it is important to understand that popular culture plays a powerful role in young people’s lives. Youth between the ages of 8 and 18 spend almost 7 hours per day with various types of media. Through movies, television, music, advertising, and other outlets, youth are exposed to an extraordinary array of messages—many of which glamorize alcohol use. Drinking is frequently portrayed in the media as cool, sophisticated, or humorous. Rarely are the negative consequences or health risks of alcohol use shown. Young people need to learn how to be critical thinkers about media messages, to question sources of information, and to look for missing information. Community groups can help youth understand the risks associated with alcohol use and resist pressures to drink by making them aware of these misleading alcohol ads..

Issue

Young people are bombarded with messages in which drinking appears enticing.

Strategy

Counteract pro-alcohol messages with health and safety messages targeted to young people. Speak to them in their language (“I’m on the real”—telling the truth or “Don’t get bent or whipped”—drunk on alcohol) and through appropriate channels. Ask the local media to donate free space and time for public service messages encouraging healthy lifestyle choices by young people. “Counter advertisements”—advertisements that show the real consequences of substance use and counter pro-use influences—can be extremely effective in reducing youth use. Contact local cable channels, college radio stations, locally owned movie theaters, and other alternative media outlets that might be willing to air counter advertisements.

Issue	Young people learn about alcohol from unreliable sources and do not know that alcohol can be a dangerous substance.
Strategy	Work with your local board of education and school administration to ensure that thorough, quality alcohol education is provided for all students, beginning in elementary school and continuing through high school. Evaluate the effectiveness of this education and work to steadily improve it.

Television ads for alcohol products outnumber “responsibility” messages by 32 to one.
--Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2001-2003

From 2001 to 2003 the alcohol industry spent $2.5 billion on television product advertising, dwarfing the $92 million spent on responsibility programs by 27 to 1.
--Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2001-2003

In the same period, youth aged 12-20 were 96 times more likely to see a television ad for an alcohol product than an ad about the risks of underage drinking.
--Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2001-2003

References:
Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Hahn-Smith, S. & Springer, F. 2005. Social Norms Theory. Prevention Tactics 8:9. Center for Applied Research Solutions. Available at: http://www.ca-cpi.org/Publications/Prevention_Tactics/Host%20Resonsiblility[1].pdf. Accessed on [09/09/06]

National Social Norms Resource Center. Available at: http://www.socialnorms.org/CaseStudies/alcohol.php. Accessed on [09/08/06]

A Campus Case Study in Implementing Social Norms and Environmental Management Approaches. 1999. The University of Arizona Campus Health Service.

Underage Drinking in California: California Town Hall Meetings. Community Prevention Institute. March, 2006.

National Social Norms Resource Center. Available at: http://www.socialnorms.org/CaseStudies/evanston.php. Accessed on [09/08/06]

Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth. 2005. Alcohol Industry Responsibility Advertising on Television, 2001to 2003. Available at: http://camy.org/research/responsibility2005/responsibility2005.pdf. Accessed on [08/29/06]

Alcohol Restrictions at Community Events. Alcohol Epidemiology Program. University of Minnesota. Available at: http://www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/policy/atevents.shtm. Accessed on [08/29/06]

Wagenaar AC, Harwood EM, Toomey TL, Denk CE, Zander KM. 2000. Public opinion on alcohol policies in the United States: Results from a national survey. Journal of Public Health Policy, 21(3):303-27.

Environmental Strategies to Prevent Alcohol Problems on College Campuses. 2005. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Available at: http://www.udetc.org/documents/EnviroStrat.pdf#search=%22strategies%20to%20promote%20alcohol%20free%20events%22. Accessed on [08/29/06]

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