Suppose you are driving down the expressway. Somewhere along your journey you are bound to see a large billboard advertising some sort of alcoholic beverage. This sort of advertisement will most likely contain some young happy people skiing in the mountains combined with a catchy quote, such as, “Tap the Rockies”. Another place you will notice the use of alcohol is in many movies, nowadays, such as, ‘American Pie 2‘. Movies such as these display teenagers drinking alcohol and enjoying themselves. It is advertisements and movies such as these that are causing controversy between anti-alcohol campaigners and beer and wine makers. Are these portrayals of alcohol influencing teenagers to drink more? This is a ve

One reason why many anti-alcohol campaigners connect underage drinking to media and advertisements is that: “alcoholic drinks are the most common beverages portrayed on television” (Pediatrics). Individuals who are shown drinking alcohol in advertisements or the media are usually portrayed as being glamorous and popular. Exposure to alcohol advertisements and television programming, for example, has been shown to be associated with positive beliefs about drinking and alcohol consumption (Pediatrics). Rarely are the negative effects of alcohol ever portrayed in movies or on television. For example, movies such as ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ and ’Varsity Blues’ contain underage usage of alcohol as being practical and the “cool thing to do.” Even G-rated children’s movies contain scenes where beer and wine are prevalent. Researchers at the University of North Carolina stated that fifty percent of the children films they viewed contained scenes with alcohol and tobacco use. “Children and adolescents view movies of this nature and develop a relationship between exposure and attention to beer, and expectations to drink beer” (AORN Journal).

In retrospect, I personally believe that these steps would effectively help in the battle against underage drinking. Advertising of alcohol doesn’t have to be banned, just regulated. Even more so, advertising aimed at portraying the negative effects of underage drinking would be even more effective. If adolescents know and understand the reality of alcohol use at a young age, many societal ills might possibly be cured in the long run. All these actions must take place because alcohol is a threat to adolescents in society today. Thousands of teenagers die each year as a result of alcohol. Statistics reveal this fact. It is time to take action and we must begin through the advertising business and television.<

Some topics in this essay:
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