Exposure of Hispanic Youth to Alcohol Advertising, 2003-2004

Publication Date:

Publisher: The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, Washington DC

Author(s): The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Exposure to alcohol marketing plays a role in young people's decisions to drink, research suggests, and Hispanic young people are more likely to drink and get drunk at an earlier age than non-Hispanic white young people.



The Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth examined Hispanic youth's exposure to alcohol advertising during 2003 and 2004 in English-language magazines, English- and Spanish- language radio and English- and Spanish-language television programming popular among Hispanic 12- to 20-year olds.



It found that Hispanic youth often saw and heard more alcohol advertising per capita during than young people in their age group in general. Key findings from this new report include:



* Alcohol ads in English-language magazines were more likely to be seen by Hispanic youth than by youth in general.
* Hispanic youth in cities such as New York, San Francisco, San Antonio and San Jose were more likely to hear alcohol ads on the radio than youth in those cities in general.
* Fourteen of the 15 most popular TV programs among 12- to-20-year-old Hispanic youth had alcohol ads in 2003 and 2004.
* Some alcohol brands exposed Hispanic youth to their ads more than others.



The findings from these analyses show that Hispanic youth, like youth in general, are exposed to substantial amounts of alcohol advertising on a per capita basis and that in several instances the exposure of Hispanic youth exceeds that of youth in general on a per capita basis. Current alcohol company practices are subjecting a population that is at higher risk of early initiation of alcohol use and binge drinking to higher levels of exposure to alcohol advertising than their peers in general, the report says.