Youth Appeal in Televised Alcohol Advertisements: Development of the Primarily Youthful Content Appeal (PYCA) Index

• In Event: Finding Myself, for Better or Worse: Adolescents and Media

Abstract

Alcohol advertising can influence youth behaviors related to alcohol. Researchers have identified specific content features that youth find appealing but up to this point we have not had an index that captures the essential components of youth appeal in alcohol advertising, limiting our ability to quantify youth-appealing marketing efforts. We sought to determine the extent to which alcohol brands are using youth appealing content, and we developed an index for measuring primarily youthful content appeal – the PYCA score. We coded a sample of televised alcohol ads (N = 96) and found the majority used youth appealing content, particularly lifestyle and emotional appeals to which youth may be especially vulnerable. The brands most popular among youth used more youth-appealing content overall than less popular brands, t(94) = -2.61, p < 0.05. The PYCA index offers an easy-to-use tool for gauging the extent to which alcohol manufacturers appeal to youth.

Authors

• Alisa Padon, U of Pennsylvania

• Rajiv N. Rimal, George Washington U

• Michael Siegel, Boston U

• David Jernigan, Johns Hopkins U