Washington: A new study has suggested that existing federal and voluntary standards for alcohol advertisements do not protect consumers from risky content and messages, as they do contain content promoting unhealthy and problematic consumption.
A new report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health calls into question whether existing federal and voluntary standards for alcohol advertisements curtail potentially damaging content and protect public health.
The researchers examined nearly 1,800 different ads for beer, spirits and alcopops that appeared between 2008 and 2010 in national magazines; they found that while the ads largely adhered to existing regulations and codes, numerous adherent ads still contained content promoting unhealthy and problematic consumption.
Examples include ads showing scantily clad, objectified and sexualized women, and ads associating alcoholic beverages with active lifestyles and weight control.
"Given the clear difficulties with regulating content, tightening guidelines about when and where companies may place their ads would also help protect youth from problematic alcohol advertising," study author and CAMY director David Jernigan said.
The researcher said that their findings suggest further limitations and enhanced federal oversight may be necessary to protect public health.
The study is published in the American Journal of Public Health.
