Alcohol Advertising on Television, 2001–2004: The Move to Cable

The following is an excerpt from the executive summary of Alcohol Advertising on Television, 2001-2004: The Move to Cable. 

“The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) analyzed the alcohol industry's placement of more than one million television ads, worth almost $3.5 billion, between 2001 and 2004. The industry placed these ads on broadcast and cable networks as well as on local television.

This analysis shows high levels of underage youth exposure to these ads despite the industry's self-regulation of its marketing and advertising practices and despite repeated public opinion poll findings that parents want their children exposed to less of this advertising. These conclusions are similar to those of CAMY's published analyses of alcohol advertising placements in magazines for 2001 to 2003 and on radio for 2001 and 2002 and for the summer of 2003.

The findings of CAMY's analysis of alcohol ads on television from 2001 through 2004 underscore recommendations made by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (NRC/IOM) in their 2003 report on reducing underage drinking. The NRC/IOM called for further reforms by the alcohol industry to its marketing codes and practices and for independent, ongoing surveillance of underage youth exposure to alcohol advertising by the U.S. Public Health Service.”