Noel Jonathan K, Babor Thomas F
Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Ave., MC 6325, Farmington, CTUSA.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2017 Nov 1;52(6):730-736. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agx059.
The prevalence of alcohol advertising has been growing on social media platforms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate alcohol advertising on Facebook for regulatory compliance and thematic content.
A total of 50 Budweiser and Bud Light ads posted on Facebook within 1 month of the 2015 NFL Super Bowl were evaluated for compliance with a self-regulated alcohol advertising code and for thematic content. An exploratory sensitivity/specificity analysis was conducted to determine if thematic content could predict code violations.
The code violation rate was 82%, with violations prevalent in guidelines prohibiting the association of alcohol with success (Guideline 5) and health benefits (Guideline 3). Overall, 21 thematic content areas were identified. Displaying the product (62%) and adventure/sensation seeking (52%) were the most prevalent. There was perfect specificity (100%) for 10 content areas for detecting any code violation (animals, negative emotions, positive emotions, games/contests/promotions, female characters, minorities, party, sexuality, night-time, sunrise) and high specificity (>80%) for 10 content areas for detecting violations of guidelines intended to protect minors (animals, negative emotions, famous people, friendship, games/contests/promotions, minorities, responsibility messages, sexuality, sunrise, video games).
The high prevalence of code violations indicates a failure of self-regulation to prevent potentially harmful content from appearing in alcohol advertising, including explicit code violations (e.g. sexuality). Routine violations indicate an unwillingness to restrict advertising content for public health purposes, and statutory restrictions may be necessary to sufficiently deter alcohol producers from repeatedly violating marketing codes.
Violations of a self-regulated alcohol advertising code are prevalent in a sample of beer ads published on Facebook near the US National Football League's Super Bowl. Overall, 16 thematic content areas demonstrated high specificity for code violations. Alcohol advertising codes should be updated to expressly prohibit the use of such content.
酒精广告在社交媒体平台上的传播率一直在上升。本研究旨在评估脸书上的酒精广告是否符合监管要求以及其主题内容。
对在2015年美国国家橄榄球联盟超级碗比赛前1个月内发布在脸书上的50条百威和百威淡啤广告进行评估，以确定其是否符合自我监管的酒精广告准则以及主题内容。进行了一项探索性的敏感度/特异度分析，以确定主题内容是否可以预测准则违规情况。
准则违规率为82%，违规情况普遍存在于禁止将酒精与成功（准则5）和健康益处（准则3）联系起来的准则中。总体而言，共识别出21个主题内容领域。展示产品（62%）和冒险/寻求刺激（52%）最为普遍。有10个内容领域在检测任何准则违规方面具有完美的特异度（100%）（动物、负面情绪、正面情绪、游戏/竞赛/促销、女性角色、少数群体、派对、性取向、夜间、日出），还有10个内容领域在检测旨在保护未成年人的准则违规方面具有较高的特异度（>80%）（动物、负面情绪、名人、友谊、游戏/竞赛/促销、少数群体、责任信息、性取向、日出、电子游戏）。
准则违规情况普遍存在，这表明自我监管未能防止潜在有害内容出现在酒精广告中，包括明确的准则违规行为（如性取向）。经常违规表明不愿意为了公共健康目的限制广告内容，可能需要法定限制来充分威慑酒精生产商反复违反营销准则。
在美国国家橄榄球联盟超级碗比赛临近时发布在脸书上的啤酒广告样本中，违反自我监管的酒精广告准则的情况很普遍。总体而言，16个主题内容领域在检测准则违规方面具有较高的特异度。酒精广告准则应更新，以明确禁止使用此类内容。
