The Effect of Advertising on the Youth Alcohol Consumption - Research Paper Example

THE EFFECT OF ADVERTISING AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL BY YOUNG PEOPLE

1. Introduction

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Researchers have observed that alcohol is one of the most commonly abused substances around the globe (Schinka et al., 2002). Underage drinking presents an entirely risky dimension to the problem as it leads to different challenges that relate to poor judgments after the consumption of alcoholic drinks. Many factors may influence most young people to engage in consuming alcohol including peer pressure as the main one (Iwamoto and Smiler, 2013). Popular culture is also another factor that has played a significant role especially in connection with the exposure of different individuals to the various forms of media. The main problem that is of interest in this research is the impact that advertisements of alcoholic substances have on the consumption of those products by young people. The focus is especially the adverts that circulate on mass and social media as those are some of the common forms amongst those individuals in the current day. The research hopes to offer solutions to the challenge in a manner that serves the interest of both the young people and the advertisers by minimizing the impact of consumption behaviors that are potentially illegal.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The focus of this research is to establish the impact that advertisements have on the behavioral alignments towards the consumption of alcoholic products by young people. The study will outline information from various sources first to determine if there is a connection between the two tenets and the direction of that relationship. The establishment of that fact will serve a significant purpose of determining if the advertising campaigns are a positive or negative influence on the young people and their choices to consume alcohol. If the investigation outlines that there is a clear impact on those individuals, then it looks to propose various solutions that can enable the populace to minimize the effects of advertisement on the consumption patterns of alcohol by underage persons in the society.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1. Underline the risks of alcohol consumption by young people

2. Establish the level of influence that the advertisement of alcoholic products has on the consumption by the young people

3. Determine the possible solutions to minimize the impacts that alcoholic product advertisements may have on the consumtion behavior of young people

1.4 Research Questions

1. What are the risks of alcohol consumption by young people?

2. What level of influence does the advertisement of alcoholic products have on the consumption by the young people?

3. What are the possible solutions to minimize the impacts that alcoholic product advertisements may have on the consumtion behavior of young people?

2. Literature Review

2.1 Background on the Consumption of Alcohol by Young People

There have been growing concerns in most countries around the world on the issue of underage drinking despite the establishment of laws that ban the sale and consumption of alcohol to those individuals (Erickson, 2016). Statistics from the United States indicate that at least 33% of teenagers will have consumed a drink by the time they get to 15 years of age (NIAAA, 2016). There are various habits that those youth observe when consuming the alcohol with binge drinking standing as the most prominent form in which they take more drinks on one occasion and refrain for a while. The habit is mainly common among young people that fall between the ages of 12 and 20 years, while further indications are that those individual consume almost 11% of the alcohol in the country (NIAAA, 2016).

Such statistics have underlined alcohol consumption as one of the substances that young people abuse the most, leading to the widespread concern over the impacts that it has. The proportion of underage drinkers in the population has also been growing along with the increase in the frequency of the incidences. Some of those practicing binge drinking indicated that they did so in a period of within 30 days or less (CDC, 2016). There are multiple causes of such behavior, and peer pressure shows to be the leading one where the individuals engage in drinking to identify with their social circles (CDC, 2016). Other causes include the need for independence and, thereby, using alcohol as a show of rebellion to assert that feeling. There are also connections to depression amongst some of the young consumers of alcohol (Torikka et al., 2016).

2.2 Risks of Underage Alcohol Consumption

There are various risks that teenagers and other underage drinkers face through the consumption of alcohol and all derive from the impairment of their judgment strategies (Richter et al., 2015). There have been connections to deaths from various causes all resulting or taking influence from individuals consuming alcoholic drinks. Some of the cases are severe and involve suicide especially for people whose consumption leads to alcoholism (Davidson and Linnoila, 2013). Alcohol stands as one of the substances that are readily accessible to most of those youth in most systems that are not strict with the law, and that multiplies the risks even further. In some severe cases, some young people are likely to contract mental illnesses especially in events where they tend towards alcoholism (Elliott, Huizinga, and Menard, 2012).

Some other impacts of alcohol consumption are relevant to irrational behaviors that most of those young people will display after drinking. As the drinks impair their judgment, some of those individuals are prone to show violence towards others (Singer, 2016). Some cases may lead to physical fights whose consequences are injurious to those persons. As the target population also entails mostly school going individuals, it is also noteworthy to indicate that some of them experience problems in their studies that include poorer grades as they get into alcoholism (Ansari, Stock, and Mills, 2013). There have also been strong connections between alcoholism and crime patterns especially for people whose demand for alcohol is likely to strain their income (Wikstrom and Butterworth, 2013). Most of them are going to turn to criminal activities as a quick source of the money they need to facilitate that desire.

2.3 Influence of Media and Advertising on the Young People

It is important to focus on various forms of media and their impact on the young people as they are the mainstream means of circulating different advertisement campaigns. Researchers indicate that the mainstream media has an influence on popular culture especially on young individuals that will strive to keep up with the latest trends (Buckingham, 2013). Some of those persons seek to stay abreast with the most recent development and act along those lines as a way of showing machismo, especially to their peers. Some of the most influential forms of media among those individuals include television whose popularity around the globe presents the greatest prospects (Cloete, 2012). The main factor that facilitates the type of influence that the media has on the young people depends on the kind of content that they get to view or hear (Buckingham, 2013).

Social media is one of the most influential forms of networking amongst most young people especially since the beginning of the past decade (Khang, Ki, and Ye, 2012). Younger individuals comprise the majority of the users of the networks in different countries. Most of them derive their trends from social media especially as it allows them to connect with various individuals including the celebrities that they admire. However, the catch comes from the fact that most businesses have realized the influence that those platforms present and are using them to circulate information about their products and services (Khang, Ki, and Ye, 2012). While some may involve advertisements, others also use direct engagements with the social media users as a way of enhancing their relations with potential consumers in the markets. That has expanded the level of influence that the media has on the young people, especially as the access to the advertisements is now much easier.

Alcohol marketing through mainstream media such as television, radio, and print has shown a connection to influencing binge drinking amongst most young individuals. In their research, Auden et al. (2012) indicate that there are alcohol-specific cognition factors play an essential role in which the advertisements influence the consumption of alcoholic products amongst the youth. Some of the common outcomes of such engagements include binge and peer drinking amongst the young people, and a majority of them indicated participating in such activities in spans of 30 days or less (Auden et al., 2012). Exposure to social media alcohol advertisements also showed a connection to influence most young individuals to engage in the consumption of alcoholic products (Winpenny, Marteau, and Nolte, 2014). The risks of the internet approach are harder to control since the advertisements are accessible to all the individuals, and the young people comprise the majority of the users of those networks.

2.5 Measures to Minimize the Impacts of Media and Advertising on Underage Drinking

The media itself plays an influential role in assisting against the effects that advertisements have on underage drinking in different countries. One of the approaches is to establish advocacy campaigns against the sale of alcohol to individuals falling below the minimum age along with their advertisements (Hilton et al., 2014). However, the media will need voluntary assistance from the businesses that sell the liquor in ensuring that they enact those laws into their systems of operation. Such an approach would make access to the alcoholic products difficult for young people and lower the risks that their consumption presents. Those campaigns can also reflect on the various consequences of underage drinking as a way of discouraging the relevant individuals from engaging in the behavior. The level of influence that the media has on the young people may offer a good solution in showing people the negative effects of the trend and why it is not desirable for them to engage in it.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Design

The study will follow and action research design in which it intends to observe the factors influencing an outstanding problem and offer an interventional solution to that challenge (Stringer, 2013). The approach is significant in this investigation as it mirrors the purpose of determining the connection that exists between advertisements and underage drinking and propose interventions to it. The design also allows the researcher to reflect on previous research findings on the problem and the solutions that others proposed to determine the relevant improvements. Such a methodology is of essence as underage drinking is an age-old problem that has received attention from various tenets including law enforcement. The research will borrow from primary sources of data and compare them with other secondary ones to increase the validity of the recommendations it makes.

3.2 Data Collection

The study will use questionnaires as the primary instrument of data collection. The tools are effective in handling such activities as they allow the investigation to collect more information with much ease. The questionnaires will include both open and closed questions to ensure that it gathers all the necessary information according to the requirements of the research. Some of the closed questions will utilize a Likert-type scale following the level of agreement that an individual holds for specific statements. The target population is young people under 18 years of age as per the legal limits regarding the consumption of alcohol. This investigation will employ the simple random sampling procedure as it enables the study to use a probabilistic approach to drawing samples from a large population. That is essential in this research that requires offering a reflection on an issue that affects a worldwide populace.

3.3 Data Analysis and Interpretation

The researcher will use computer software to analyze the information from the data collection processes and present it. The exercise will rely on both qualitative and quantitative techniques to ensure that it incorporates all the information from the questionnaires effectively. The quantitative analysis will utilize a 95% confidence level where necessary especially when conduct different statistical tests to the data. The presentation of the findings will employ such methods as tables and graphs as summaries of the overall results while word descriptions will accompany them for an accurate representation. The analysis will use case reviews such as measures of central tendency and hypothesis tests as is necessary to provide a reflection of the relevant information effectively.