Study deems US alcohol ad regulations ‘ambiguous’

Industry standards for magazine alcohol advertisements are “ambiguous” and “problematic”, according to a recent study by US researchers.

A new study by a group of US academics has concluded that although magazine alcohol advertisements largely adhere to industry and federal standards, many continue to be “problematic”

Academics from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore found that the majority of spirits advertisements in magazines across the US adhered to industry regulations, but added concerns that these rules are often “ambiguous”

Katherine Smith, asscociate professor at the college and lead author of the paper, told Reuters: “In our paper one of our main findings is that the content is largely aderent to federal and industry codes, but it’s still very problematic.”

In particular, Smith notes that sexual representation in these advertisements may not be subject to clear guidelines and that “compliance is largely a non-issue” due to the blurred definition of standards.

The group surveyed 1,785 advertisements that appeared in national magazines across the US between 2008 band 2010, judging them against federal and industry standards.

The majority of the reviewed adverts were for spirits – 76% – while 23% were for beer and less than 1% were for alcopops.

According to US federal standards, alcohol adverts cannot make false statements and any representations should not be judged as obscene or indecent, nor contain claims to benefit health.

Meanwhile, the US Beer Institute and Distilled Spirits Council state that advertisements should not represent “promiscuity, gratuitous nudity, degrading images, or excessive consumption”.

Although researchers found that only 1% of magazine advertisements disregarded these regulations, they added that a number contained “questionable content” due to the ambiguity of the rules.

Smith added: “From a public health perspective, I think ads should focus on the product’s qualities rather than focus on lifestyle attributes to the product.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.