Download - Advertising, Social Media and Young People
Professor Christine GriffinPsychology, University of Bath
November 2013
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse
Advertising, Social Media and Young People
Young people’s drinking and online alcohol marketing – key questions
1) What forms does alcohol marketing via social media take?
2) How does this engage with young people drinking practices & their social media use?
3) What do young people think about online alcohol marketing?
Young people and the culture of intoxication
Drinking to get (very) drunk
Linked to alcohol availability, price, targeted products, venues aimed at youth
More liberal alcohol policies, licensing regulation
Relationship between exposure to online alcohol marketing & consumption
Social networking and young people’s drinking
Rapid growth in use of social media & mobile technologies (smartphones) amongst young people
Facebook most popular - 1 billion users in October 2012
Drinking and getting drunk most common themes in young people’s Facebook pages
Sharing photos of self and others drinking (and drunk) very common amongst young people
Digital alcohol marketing
Digital marketing budgets increasing rapidly Diageo: Social media marketing accounted for 21% of its
marketing budget in 2010 In 2011 Diageo brands had collectively enjoyed a 20%
increase in sales as a “direct result of Facebook activity”
Goal is “user engagement” (Socialbakers, 2013)
Alcohol marketing via social media Adverts on FB / twitter/
across social media ‘Likes’, ‘comments’ and
‘shares’ on FB pages of drink brands, bars, clubs
Promotions, Events – ‘real world tie-ins’
Smartphone apps And much much more ….
Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange project
‘Let’s get wasted’ and other smartphone apps
Young people’s drinking and social media projectAotearoa (New Zealand) Research Team Antonia Lyons, Ian Goodwin & Patricia Niland (Massey University, Wellington) Tim McCreanor, Helen Moewaka Barnes, Acushla Dee O’Carroll & Tuiloma
Lina Samu (Whariki Research Unit, Massey University, Auckland)Also: Fiona Hutton (Victoria University, Wellington, Aotearoa/NZ) Kerryellen Vroman (University of New Hampshire, USA) Supported by the Marsden Fund, administered by the Royal Society of New
Zealand (contract MAU0911).
Stage 223 individual
interviews with laptop/online
access
New Zealand study: Stage 1
37 friendship group discussions with 154 participants
Stage 3Analysis of online representations of young people
drinking, including advertising via social media
Dylan: I think the reason why we have the drinking photos is because it makes your life like more fun, so you're always doing something
Lo: It's memories as well and all your friends are out together on the piss and you do have fun. So you take photos and some of them will be funny photos, and you'll just look at them and crack up and go oh my gosh, do you remember when you were that
wasted? [laughing]Extract 1 European/Pakeha Group 1; 4 females
Krystal oh yeah, if you don’t really remember what happened the night before, like you will see a photo and it will trigger your memory and then you will remember what happened
Extract 2 Maori Group 24; 2 males 2 females
Trish: Do you see any alcohol advertising online?Alex: Yeah - no.Jack: there might be some somewhereMark: I don’t think - oh are they allowed to?Alex: I never see it online bro. Not on Facebook or anything. I always just
see it on a billboardTrish: Have you seen any Facebook profiles, like Tui or Cruiser or?Mark: Oh yeah [all nod].Jack: Yeah.Alex: Yeah I have seen that. You can like them. And then oh it'll just be on
Facebook so often you'll come across a friend in the notification or the update his profile update it'll just say [name] likes 42 Below New Zealand vodka and you click on it and it'll be like a description of what it's about. Stuff like that. What flavours. Where you can get it from.
Trish: Do you think that could be advertising? Jack: Yeah it's gotta be. Mark: Oh not necessarily. Alex: Not necessarily
Extract 3 European /Pakeha group Group 7; 3 males
Key research findings
Young people exposed to a great deal of alcohol-related marketing online
Not just exposure –interactive engagement
Online alcohol marketing infiltrates young people’s social lives and drinking practices
Young people do not necessarily view online alcohol marketing as advertising
Current regulatory & health promotion strategies outmoded
Behavioural change approaches too individualised
Regulation of alcohol marketing should include social media & digital / mobile technologies
Monitoring & ‘transparency reports’ on industry activities
Implications for public health
The sobriety test puts users through a series of “coordination and cognition” tests such as “drag your mouse in a straight line,” “type the alphabet backwards,” or “follow the finger.” A low score results in a friendly admonition to avoid sending that tweet or whatever the case may be and a recommendation for a taxi company based on your phone’s geo-location.The app allows users to customize which sites they wish to block and at what time of the day they are most likely to commit regrettable acts.
New Zealand study at: http://drinkingcultures.info/Follow on twitter: @drinkculturesUK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies at: www.ukctas.ac.uk Follow me on twitter: @chris_griffin55 Email: [email protected]
ReferencesMcCreanor, T., Lyons, A., Goodwin, I., Moewaka Barnes, H., Griffin,
C. and Hutton, F. (2013). Youth drinking cultures, social networking and alcohol marketing: Implications for public health. Critical Public Health. 23(1): 110-120.
Goodwin, I., Lyons, A., Griffin, C. and McCreanor, T. (forthcoming). Ending up online:@ Interrogating mediated youth drinking cultures. In: A. Bennett and B. Robards (eds.) Mediated Youth Cultures: The Internet, Belonging and New Cultural Configurations. London: Palgrave.
Griffin, C., Szmigin, I., Bengry-Howell, A., Hackley, C. and Mistral, W. (2013). Inhabiting the contradictions: Hypersexual femininity and the culture of intoxication among young women in the UK. Feminism and Psychology. 23(2): 184-206.