In their research, a team from the University of Florida and the University of Minnesota counted the number of alcohol ads, including billboards, bus stop signs and logo displays, in neighborhoods around 63 Chicago schools.

The researchers also surveyed sixth-graders about their attitudes toward alcohol and followed up with them again two years later, in eighth-grade.

Twenty-two of the schools had no alcohol advertising in their neighborhood. There was an average of 28 alcohol ads in the neighborhoods around the remaining 41 schools, with the highest count topping 100 ads in one neighborhood.

Children from neighborhoods with lots of ads were not only more likely to say they would drink, but they were also less able to name reasons not to drink, the researchers found.

According to the researchers, the majority of the ads were just brand-information only. They found this surprising because we often think that simple brand ads are not that powerful. Yet the researchers determined that the majority of the brand ads had a strong association with increased intentions to use alcohol among the children surveyed.

The data from the study, published in Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, showed that the ads influenced youth who did not drink as well as those who had first tried alcohol before sixth-grade.

According to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, there are about 11 million underage drinkers in the United States, and teens who begin drinking before age 15 are more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life. The Office of the Surgeon General has also said:

• Alcohol is the drug of choice among American adolescents, used by more young people than tobacco or illicit drugs. Although there has been a significant decline in tobacco and illicit drug use among teens, underage drinking has remained at consistently high levels.
• Young people who start drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol problems later in life than those who begin drinking at age 21 or older.
• New research indicates that alcohol may harm the developing adolescent brain.
• There are approximately 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Nearly 7.2 million (18.8 percent) are considered binge drinkers and more than 2 million (6 percent) are classified as heavy drinkers. By age 18, more than 70 percent of teens have had a drink.
• As they get older, the chance that young people will use alcohol grows. Over 11 percent of 12-year-old children (6th graders) say that they have used alcohol at least once. By age 13, that number doubles. By age 14 (8th grade), 41 percent of children have had at least one drink, and nearly 20 percent say they have been drunk at least once.

References
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