Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Feb 27;23(1):396. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15250-5.
Exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship through elite sport is associated with harmful use of alcohol. Owing to strong financial and cultural ties between alcohol and sport in Australia, policy action to restrict alcohol sport sponsorship is unlikely to occur without strong public support for change. This study tested whether exposure to counter-advertising exposing industry marketing of harmful products-a technique shown to be effective in tobacco control-promotes higher support for policy change and less favourable beliefs about the alcohol industry among sport spectators.
A sample of 1,075 Australian adults aged 18-49 years who planned to watch an National Rugby League (NRL) State of Origin series game, featuring prominent alcohol sponsorship, was recruited through an online panel and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control (neutral advertisement); counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms; counter-advertisement exposing alcohol sponsorship and harms. Participants completed a pre-test questionnaire and viewed their assigned counter-advertisement multiple times in the 5-7 days before the NRL game. Within four days of watching the game, participants completed post-test measures.
Compared to both the control advertisement and the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms, participants who viewed the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol sponsorship and harms were significantly more likely to indicate support for each of four policies aimed at restricting sports-related alcohol marketing, including the complete removal of alcohol sponsorship from sport (51% vs. 32% and 37%). They were also significantly less likely to agree with statements such as "alcohol companies should be allowed to sponsor sport since their products are legal" (39% vs. 63% and 60%) and significantly less likely to report liking alcohol companies in general (38% vs. 59% and 54%). There were no significant differences in policy support or industry beliefs between participants who saw the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms and those who saw the control advertisement.
Counter-advertising employing messages that expose and critique the intent and impact of pervasive alcohol sponsorship in sport has potential to bolster public support for policies targeting alcohol sport sponsorship, diminish beliefs supportive of alcohol industry marketing strategies and enhance negative views of alcohol companies and their marketing practices.
接触精英体育赛事中的酒精广告和赞助与酒精滥用有关。由于澳大利亚的酒精和体育之间存在强大的财务和文化联系，如果没有公众强烈支持变革，限制酒精体育赞助的政策行动不太可能发生。本研究测试了暴露于反广告（一种已被证明在烟草控制中有效的技术）是否会增加体育观众对政策变革的支持，并减少对酒精行业的有利看法。
通过在线小组招募了 1075 名年龄在 18-49 岁之间、计划观看国家橄榄球联盟（NRL）起源系列赛的澳大利亚成年人，该系列赛有突出的酒精赞助。参与者被随机分配到三个条件之一：对照组（中性广告）；揭露酒精危害的反广告；揭露酒精赞助和危害的反广告。参与者在 NRL 比赛前的 5-7 天内多次查看他们分配的反广告，并完成了预测试问卷。在观看比赛后的四天内，参与者完成了测试后测量。
与控制广告和揭露酒精危害的反广告相比，观看揭露酒精赞助和危害的反广告的参与者更有可能表示支持四项旨在限制与体育相关的酒精营销的政策，包括完全取消体育赞助（51%对 32%和 37%）。他们也不太可能同意“既然酒精公司的产品是合法的，就应该允许他们赞助体育”这样的说法（39%对 63%和 60%），也不太可能普遍喜欢酒精公司（38%对 59%和 54%）。观看揭露酒精危害的反广告和观看控制广告的参与者在政策支持或行业信仰方面没有显著差异。
利用揭露和批评普遍存在的酒精赞助在体育赛事中的意图和影响的反广告，有可能增强公众对针对酒精体育赞助的政策的支持，减少对酒精行业营销策略的支持性信念，并增强对酒精公司及其营销实践的负面看法。
