Ad age reports on a new study linking alcoholic-beverage advertising to increased drinking levels by teenagers and young adults. And representatives of the marketing and alcoholic-beverage industries are not liking the results. The study claims that young consumers who were exposed to alcoholic beverage advertising drank more alcoholic beverages. Duh.
But an executive with the American Association of Advertising Agencies wants to pretend that advertising doesn't work.
"Dick O'Brien, exec VP of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, disputed the findings. “We’ve seen over the last several decades that as alcohol-advertising spending increased, underage drinking substantially decreased. The raw facts of the marketplace contradict the main finding of the report,” he said."
Dick says that it's not advertising that's working - but instead, kids are learning from their parents. I wonder if Dick would say the same thing in a pitch to a soda brand. Kids won't buy soda with an advertising campaign. Let's just send a memo to their parents.
1 comment:
Advertising execs habitually sell out their industry when it's implicated in negative health effects. "Ads only contribute to brand switching in underaged drinkers"...please.
There's an interesting post by an alcohol industry watchdog group on www.commonsenseblog.org
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