Abstract
Alcohol use is the leading cause of death and disability for 15–24-year-olds in much of the world, and delaying initiation into alcohol use is an important public health goal. At least 25 longitudinal studies have documented associations between youth exposure to alcohol marketing and youth alcohol use, both initiation and progression to more hazardous patterns of drinking. Research into specific brands of alcohol consumed by youth in the USA has provided additional evidence of the possible influence of marketing on youth drinking: young people do not drink the same brands as adults, they do not drink the least expensive brands or those easiest for them to obtain, and they are significantly more likely to drink the brands to whose advertising and marketing they have been exposed. Alcohol industry self-regulation has failed to protect youth either from simple exposure or from advertising content that is appealing to young people. Global and regional public health recommendations encourage countries to consider restricting alcohol advertising and marketing to the extent constitutionally possible. In the USA, while legal protections for commercial speech limit the feasibility of advertising and marketing restrictions, there are numerous steps that states could be taking to reduce youth exposure to such marketing. Given the risks to health posed by youth alcohol use, and substantial evidence of an association between youth exposure and alcohol marketing and youth alcohol use, governments at all levels should consider restricting and reducing alcohol marketing to protect young people.
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Jernigan, D.H. (2019). Alcohol Marketing and Promotion. In: Sloboda, Z., Petras, H., Robertson, E., Hingson, R. (eds) Prevention of Substance Use. Advances in Prevention Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00627-3_7
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