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thesis entitled

AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS' EXPOSURE TO
ALCOHOL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS IN BLACK AND
MAINSTREAM MAGAZINES

presented by
KIMBERLY ANEESE GREENE

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for the

Master of degree in Advertising
Arts

 

 

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AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS’ EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL
ADVERTISEMENTS IN BLACK AND MAINSTREAM MAGAZINES

By

Kimberly Ancese Greene

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing

2006

ABSTRACT

AFRICAN-AIVIERICAN ADOLESCENTS’ EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL
ADVERTISEMENTS IN BLACK AND MAINSTREAM MAGAZINES

By
KIMBERLY ANEESE GREENE

Adolescents and their exposure to alcohol advertisements in different forms of
media are often discussed, but African-American adolescents are rarely studied. This
thesis examined Afi'ican-American adolescents and their exposure to alcohol
advertisements in racially targeted and non-racially targeted magazines. A content
analysis of alcohol advertisements in five magazines was conducted. The results indicate
that certain appeals and alcohol brands were advertised more, or only, in racially targeted
magazines. The findings of this research study have many implications for fiature studies

on African-American adolescents and their exposure to alcohol advertising.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee: Dr. Geri Alumit Zeldes, Dr. Theresa Mastin,
and Dr. Bruce Vandenbergh for their suggestions and encouragement. I would like to
especially thank Dr. Theresa Mastin for her key insights, ideas, and patience in guiding
me through the thesis writing process. I would also like to thank my parents, Cheryla and
Thomas Greene, my sister Kheena Greene and fiance Woodrow Hoffer II for their

endless help and support throughout this process.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................... v
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... 3
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................... 15
METHOD ........................................................................................... 22
RESULTS ........................................................................................... 3 1
DISCUSSION ....................................................................................... 37
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 45

iv

LIST OF TABLES

TOP MAGAZINES READ BY AFRICAN AMERICANS AND ALL OTHER
GROUPS, AGES 18-24 ........................................................................... 23

NUMBER OF ALCOHOL ADVERTISEMENTS PER MAGAZINE PER YEAR ......3l

FREQUENCY OF PRODUCT CATEGORIES PER MAGAZINE ........................ 32
TOP TEN DISTILLED LIQUOR BRANDS PER MAGAZINE ............................. 33
ADVERTISING APPEALS PER MAGAZINE ................................................ 34

Introduction

Budweiser, Hennessy, Absolut, Crown Royal and Captain Morgan are extremely
familiar names to adolescents'; yet, the alcohol industry maintains their advertisements
are not directed toward the youth audience. Alcohol advertising continuously draws
criticism for allegedly targeting and influencing children and adolescents (Austin and
Meili 1994). Communication researchers counter that at worst the alcohol industry is
directly targeting youth and at best indirect targeting is at work.

“Indirect targeting occurs when there is no demonstrable evidence of intent to
target, but nevertheless a group other than the group directly targeted is reached in a
measurable way similar to the group directly targeted” (Garfield, Chung and Rathouz
2003). Alcohol advertisements that grab adolescents’ attention are of particular concern
because these youths are tremendously impressionable.

Alcohol advertisements are typically staged in the context of lifestyle images.
These advertisements are designed in a manner that portray alcohol drinkers as mature,
attractive, and fun loving. These advertisements fail to portray the true-life realities and
consequences of excessive underage drinking — sexual aggression, alcohol dependence,
the increased likelihood of driving while intoxicated, etc. (Parker 1998). Alcohol
advertisements negatively affect adolescents in general; however, existing research
indicates that African-American youth are affected and suffer disproportionately.

African-American adolescents are exposed to alcohol advertisements primarily
through television, radio, billboards, magazines and in-store displays in their
neighborhoods. Although television advertising is an efi‘ective way to reach this

demographic, magazines are another medium alcohol advertisers use to reach this

 

' For this paper, “adolescents” and “youth” refer to persons ages 12-20 unless otherwise stated

audience. African-American youth experience alcohol advertisements in mainstream
magazines, as well as in Black magazines. One reason this segment group is at a higher
risk to drink and abuse alcohol is because of the constant exposm‘e to alcohol
advertisements in magazines. The constant viewing of alcohol advertisements leads to
unrealistic views of drinking alcohol, which in turn often results in negative
consequences for youth who believe these images to be truthful. For example, national
survey studies indicate that African-American adolescents stated that alcohol was a factor
in their first sexual encounter and alcohol was also a catalyst for other sexual encounters
(Santelli, Lindberg, Abma, Sucofi', and Resnick 2000).

This study focuses on the alcohol advertisements featured in popular mainstream
magazines read by African-American adolescents. Alcohol brands, types of alcohol, and
advertising appeals featured in popular mainstream and Black magazines were examined.
Although studies have examined alcohol advertising and youth, few have focused on
African-American youth, thus research literature on this demographic is limited.

Generally African Americans use the media as their main source of gathering
information about brands and products (Green 1999). They use advertising as one method
of obtaining information, especially for new products. It has also been reported that
African Americans use different media outlets to learn about occupations and dating
behaviors (Bush, Smith and Martin 1999). African-American adolescents are more
exposed to alcohol magazine advertisements than the legal drinking age population
(Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002). For example, in 2003, African-
American adolescents saw 77% more alcohol magazine advertising overall than non-

African-American adolescents. This is cause for concern because these adolescents view

alcohol advertisements not intended for them. Also, these adolescents are viewing more

of these messages than consumers who are of legal drinking age.

Literature Review

African-American youth are indirectly targeted by alcohol advertisers (Center on
Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002). African-American youth are more likely to see
alcohol advertising in their neighborhoods (Alaniz 1998), as well as on television, radio
and print media, which put them at risk of being enticed to drink (Lewis 2003). The more
adolescents are exposed to alcohol messages in the media, the more likely they are to take
their first drink at younger ages and drink more often than adolescents not exposed to
alcohol advertising (Lewis 2003).

The alcohol industry is an extremely lucrative business in the United States. In
2001, alcohol sales were $135 billion (Hingson 2004). To put this in context, food
expenditures for the same year were $844.2 billion (Agriculture Fact Book 2002).
Alcohol companies paid more money to place their advertisements in magazines than the
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism had in their yearly budget, which
was approximately $288,578,000. (Hingson 2004).

Print media is an especially dominant form of advertising in which alcohol
companies promote their products, especially in magazines. This form of advertising
continues to be an issue because African Americans are heavy magazine readers, reading
more magazines on average than any other segment of the population (Magazine
Publishers of America 2004). Approximately 85% of African Americans read 12

magazines per month as compared to 9 magazines read per month by the rest of the US.

population (Magazine Publishers of America 2004). Thirty-five percent of African
Americans ages 18-20 are among the most frequent magazine readers, versus 19.7% of
non-African Americans in these age groups (Magazine Publishers of America 2004).
African Americans are the most frequent readers of Black magazines and read many
mainstream publications. In 2001, alcohol advertisers spent $13,974,205 to place
advertisements in Cosmopolitan; $3,774,833 to place ads in Vibe; and $1,404,811 to
place ads in Essence (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002).

In 2000, distilled spirits companies spent 89% of their advertising budget to place
advertisements in national magazines (Thomsen and Rekve 2004). This amount of
spending can be attributed to the magazine readership of African-American adolescents
(Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002). In 2001 , Miller Lite, Heineken, Tequiza
and Fosters had youth exposure 70% more than adult ad exposure; for distilled spirits,
Kahlua and Amaretto had youth exposure 60% more than adult ad exposure; and youth
saw 144% more alcopop advertisements than adults over the age of thirty-five (Center on
Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002).

In 2003, alcohol companies spent $326 million to place their advertisements in
magazines. Seventy percent of these advertisements were from distilled spirits advertisers
(Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2004). Distilled liquor companies often place
their advertisements in magazines targeted to men, African Americans, and youth 20-24
years of age (Nelson 2005). Some of the most profitable distilled liquor brands include
Bacardi, Absolut, Smirnoff, and Jack Daniels. Distilled liquors are hard liquors with an
alcohol content of 20% or above, consisting of ms (Bacardi, Captain Morgan, Malibu),

cognacs (Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier), vodkas (Absolut, Skyy, Grey Goose) and gins

(Tanqueray, Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire). These brands appeal to young consumers
because of unique and elaborate labeling and packaging (Cui 2000). Distilled liquors
packaging consists of clear and colored glass bottles in an array of different shapes and
sizes.

Distilled liquors manufacturers are not the only alcohol companies that reach
adolescents with their magazine advertising. In 2003, approximately 50% of all alcohol
advertisements appeared in magazines read by underage youth (Center on Alcohol
Marketing and Youth 2005). That same year alcohol advertisements for beer were seen
by 48% of the youth population. Beer companies spent $55 million to place alcohol
advertisements in magazines. Out of all the alcohol companies, distilled liquors and
brewery companies such as Bacardi, Anheuser-Busch, and Miller, are the most
aggressive in their advertising methods to Afiican American and other ethnic youth
groups (Green 2002).

Besides magazines, alcohol companies further promote their brands by sponsoring
events in Afiican-American communities. They often sponsor athletic events, contests,
sweepstakes, and musical events, e.g., jazz, rap, rhythm & blues (Hacker, Collins and
Jacobson 1987). Some examples of alcohol sponsorships include Bacardi flying banners
with their brand logo during Big 10 college football games (Horovitz, Howard and
Petrecca 2005), the NASCAR Busch Series sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, and
Budweiser promotions during past Olympics and Super Bowl games.

In addition to sponsorships, another way alcohol brands promote their products is
through either product placement or using the brand in a lyric of some rap and rhythm &

blues songs. Roberts, Henriksen, and Christensen (1999) found that from 1,000 of the

most popular songs from 1996-1997, 47% of rap songs had alcohol references as
compared to 13% for country western; 12% for top 40; 10% for alternative rock and 4%
for heavy metal. Also 48% of rap songs had product placements or mention of specific
alcohol brand names.

One example of this can be found in the 2002 hit song ‘Pass the Courvoisier’ by
Busta Rhymes. The rapper included the distilled liquor brand without any payment from
the distiller (Wipperfurth 2005). In the video the brand name and product are shown
repeatedly. This type of marketing helps alcohol companies develop a popular following
for their brand names that are promoted in rap songs and at the same time is rarely
tracked by traditional advertising tracking techniques (Herd 2005).

Constantly seeing alcohol brands throughout different media outlets affects the
positive drinking behavior of these consumers as they mature, which leads to negative
outcomes including increased risk of suicide, sexual violence, driving under the influence
and lower educational standards (Miller 2005). Furthermore, these negative outcomes
cause problems for society as a whole, not just the African-American community. For
example, each year the economic costs, such as healthcare, alcohol counseling and
classes, and rehabilitation treatments, related to alcohol consumption equal more than
$100 billion (Hacker 1998).

Ignoring all of these facts, the alcohol industry, much like the tobacco industry,
justify their advertising by claiming that the purpose of its advertisements is to retain
product loyalty and induce people to switch brands, not to lure underage customers
(Beaver 1997). The industry also argues that alcohol advertising does not influence

alcohol consumption in adolescents (Jemigan 2006). This is doubtful considering

numerous alcohol companies advertise their products to youth on college campuses, radio
and television, in magazines with high youth readership, and at sporting events and music
promotions (Hacker, Collins and Jacobson 1987).

Lifestyle Images in Alcohol Advertising

Every day 7,000 adolescents younger than sixteen have their first alcoholic drink
(Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2005). Young people have well-developed
beliefs about alcohol and the effects of drinking, even before they have any personal
experience with drinking alcoholic beverages, due to alcohol advertising (Miller, Smith
and Goldman 1990). Alcohol advertising is an additional resource through which youth
learn about alcohol and form their beliefs about particular brands (Waiters, Treno and
Grube 2001). Young people learn consumption behaviors and the positive social
attributes associated with drinking alcohol from advertising intended for adults (Hacker
1998). Alcohol advertising suggests drinking as a positive, normative behavior and
promotes an exaggerated view of the degree of alcohol use in society (Cui 2000).
Adolescents are exposed to approximately 100,000 magazine advertisements before their
eighteenth birthday (Beaver 1997).

Alcohol advertisers have not only been criticized for indirectly reaching young
people, but also about the influential appeals used in their advertisements. Existing
research on youth and advertising indicates that younger adults, more so than older teens,
are more attracted to image or lifestyle advertisements than to product- or quality-
orientcd advertisements (Covell 1992). Image and lifestyle advertisements focus on
appeals such as fun, social occasions, and sexual intimacy rather than the attributes of the

brand or product. Lifestyle image advertising associates a product with desirable

attributes other than intrinsic product qualities. These advertisements influence younger
peoples’ decisions to engage in illegal activities that can endanger their health (Hingson
2004).

Alcohol advertising tends to fall under the category of misleading advertising
because the images shown and the net impression of some advertisements are likely to
deceive young consumers (F ueroghne 1995). Young consumers primarily have not had
personal experience with alcohol before viewing alcohol advertising. Therefore, they
perceive the appeal of the advertisement as being true. The net impression, or theme, of
these advertisements is to convey drinking alcohol as something to do to have ftm with
friends or one way to become closer to members of the opposite sex. People in alcohol
advertisements are typically attractive, cool and shown having fun.

Research studies have been conducted relating to the phenomenon of advertising
and youth impressions of alcohol. Youth who displayed more awareness of beer
advertising had more knowledge about alcohol advertisements and slogans, therefore
having more positive views on drinking and stating their intent to drink more often as
adults than children who lacked awareness about those advertisements (Grube and
Wallack 1994). Grant and Dawson (1997) conducted a study concluding that young
people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop
alcohol dependence than those who wait until age 21 to become drinkers, while those
who start to drink prior to age 14 are more likely to experience alcohol related injuries.
Also the earlier someone is exposed to alcohol advertising the more likely they are to
gain a false impression about drinking and appropriate drinking behavior (Beaver 1997).

Hingson (2004) found that adolescents 17 years and older who had their first drink when

they were 12 or younger are ten times more likely to be heavy drinkers having five or
more drinks per occasion than those adolescents who waited until they were 17 years or
older to have their first drink.

Appeals that are known to work the best for adolescents include the use of humor,
celebrity endorsers, animals, and musical artists from the genres of rap and rock music
(Grube and Wallack 1994). Alcohol companies, especially beer advertisers, often use
these appeals to attract underage audiences (Thomsen and Rekve 2004). Young people
remember the elements of these advertisements because they make a lasting impression.
It is easier for them to make the link between the advertisement and the brand when these
visual elements are used.

Alcohol advertising often emphasizes the good social effects of alcohol, but never
the negative consequences such as addiction, accident and injury, and unwanted or
unplanned sexual encounters (Parker 1998). The positive aspects associated with drinking
alcohol in advertisements convey a lifestyle with alcohol as exciting and attractive. Youth
who view these advertisements perceive them as reality. On a more personal level, they
may accept televised portrayals of alcohol as a close reflection of their own thoughts or
behaviors, or as a perceived similarity (Austin and Meili 1994).

Youth who engage in future drinking may only be doing so to have some of the
lifestyle attributes seen in alcohol advertisements. Waiters, Treno and Grube (2001)
found in their focus group study that students thought the alcohol advertisements for
Budweiser, Busch, Heineken, Michelob and Miller Lite suggested that drinkers of those
products would be more successful, find love and happiness, and become more physically

attractive to the opposite sex. If adolescent viewers think these images can be obtained by

drinking, serious consequences may arise. Underage alcohol users may place themselves
at more immediate risk of alcohol related illnesses and accidents such as single car fatal
crashes (Hingson 2004).

Advertising to African Americans

In general, Afiican Americans have positive attitudes about advertising. Afiican
Americans are more inclined to believe misleading advertising appeals because they have
a positive reaction to advertising and rely on it when making purchase decisions (Bush,
Smith and Martin 1999). African Americans value advertising as one way to obtain
information about a product, service or brand. African-American consumers are also
more likely than the average US. consumer to be brand loyal (Magazine Publishers of
America 2004).

When sales of alcohol declined among the general population, marketers
increased their efforts to further target African Americans (Cui 2000). Alcohol
advertisers do so by advertising more in racially targeted media outlets such as African-
American sitcoms and magazines (Cui 2000). Although Afiican Americans have always
been targets of alcohol advertising, companies hoped to increase the sales contributed by
this segment because of their steady increase in buying power. In 2003, African
Americans spent approximately $2.8 billion on tobacco products, $3.5 billion on
consumer electronics, $18.0 billion on healthcare and the same amount of money, $2.5
billion, on both alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages (Target Market News
2004). By 2010, African Americans will spend approximately $965 billion on goods and

services such as clothing, food, electronics and housing (Beirne 2005).

10

To attract minority consumers and emphasize the power and sexiness of their
brands, alcohol companies often develop new products. One example has been the
introduction of malt liquor beverages. African-Americans consume 75% of all malt liquor
and contribute to a large percentage of sales for some well-known brand names (Franklyn
1987). Examples of these malt liquor beverages include Anheuser—Busch’s ‘King Cobra’,
Miller Brewing Company’s ‘Magnum’, Stroh’s ‘Schlitz Bulls’ and Pabst’ ‘Old English
800’ (Cui 2000). These alcoholic beverages contain more alcohol than beer and
eventually became known as “power brews” (Hacker, Collins and Jacobson 1987).

Two specific examples of malt liquor advertising occurred in the 1990’s when
two malt liquor brands were accused of advertising their products toward underage
African-American youth. When trying to make their image hipper, Colt 45 developed a
campaign in which the actors were 21 years of age or older, but looked relatively
younger. Colt 45 also adopted the new slogan in their campaign “Colt 45. It works all the
time” in order to target the brand’s most important customers: African-American
adolescents. The new slogan referred to Colt 45 as a way to get in the mood for sexual
encounters. Their campaign led to discussions over the ethics of aiming high-octant malt
liquor at young African-American drinkers (Bird 1993).

Similarly in 1996, the FTC investigated Stroh Brewery Company’s Schlitz Malt
Liquor due to their alcohol advertising because of the content and message in their
advertisements. The FTC claimed the advertisements targeted youth under the legal
drinking age of 21. Also the advertisements featured all African Americans and some of

the actors appeared to be under the legal drinking age (Ingersoll and Beatty 1996). The

11

message of the advertisement was that Schlitz Malt Liquor would equal good times with
friends and frm for drinkers of the product.

African-American actors and actresses are used in advertisements for many
different alcohol products, not just malt liquor brands. This is a cause for concern
considering the high alcohol content of these drinks and African Americans favorable
views toward advertising. African Americans are used in these advertisements because
ethnic identification has an important effect on how an audience perceives an
advertisement. Identification with their own ethnic group or race is a determinant in how
a person interprets the advertising and makes purchase decisions based on that
advertisement (Green 1999). Advertisers use this method to ensure more favorable
attitudes by consumers about their brands. An individual’s positive attitude toward an
advertisement is a good forecast of positive feelings toward the brand (Bush, Smith and
Martin 1999).

Because thirty-six percent of African Americans are under the age of 21 versus
30% of the general population (Center of Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2003), it makes
this ethnic group a prime target for advertising. Also, marketers hope that targeting
Afiican-American adolescents will eventually help them reach the more affluent white
market (Spiegler 1996). African-American youth are often seen as trendsetters among the
teenage market and their styles and trends influence teenagers from other backgrounds.
Alcohol advertisers realize that portraying their brand as hip and cool will more than
likely attract African-American adolescents, which in turn, will influence other teenagers.
Advertisers hope that advertising to African-American adolescents will make these young

consumers more familiar with different brands of alcohol. Alcohol companies place

12

advertisements for their brands in magazines because of African-American adolescents’
involvement with magazines.

In 2002, regular and light beer, distilled liquors and alcopops alcohol advertising
reached more of the African-American underage audience than it reached Afiican-
American young adults ages 21-34 (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2003). The
magazines that most exposed young Blacks to alcohol ads were Sports Illustrated Vibe,
Cosmopolitan, ESPN the Magazine, Jet, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Ebony, In
Style, Playboy, GQ, Essence and People (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2003).
For example, in the October 2002 issue of Rolling Stone thirteen pages, or approximately
10% of the magazine, contained alcohol advertisements for companies such as Corona,
Jack Daniels and Bacardi (Green 2002).

For African-American youth, this overexposure to alcohol advertisements in
magazines is especially problematic because of the positive correlation between alcohol
consumption and alcohol-related problems. Alcohol is a contributing factor in the top
three leading causes of death for young Afiican Americans aged 12-20 years old:
homicide, unintentional injuries, and suicide (American Medical Health Association
2003). These causes of death can be attributed to the type of alcohol most offered in these
communities and most often viewed in the media (Alaniz 1998). Often stores in these
communities use their store fronts to advertise alcohol brands or have point of purchase
displays for alcohol brands inside their stores (Alaniz 1998). This knowledge should
make advertisers more socially responsible when targeting this demographic group.
Young African Americans often see images of sex and strength in alcohol advertisements

which often imply that alcohol can improve the drinker’s physical attributes. Alcohol

13

advertisers target African-American youth by predominantly placing advertisements in
magazines and on television since these are the two forms of media most often seen by
this age group (Center on Marketing and Youth 2003).

Excessive alcohol consumption can cause social problems such as legal issues,
alcohol abuse and dependence (Galvan and Caetano 2003). These consequences that are
possible outcomes from drinking alcohol are rarely, if ever, portrayed in alcohol
advertisements. The depiction of alcohol consumption as a fun social activity is the view
many adolescents take from alcohol advertisements. Therefore, consumers get a
misrepresentation of all the effects of drinking. The targeting of harmful and addictive
products, such as alcohol, at vulnerable consumers (i.e., African Americans) is
problematic in nature and will only compound the alcohol-related health problems,
particularly when African Americans already suffer disproportionately from alcohol
related health and social problems (Galvan and Caetano 2003).

Afiican Americans tend not to receive alcoholism treatment and have less
adequate health care resources in general (Galvan and Caetano 2003). Even when
drinking habits are similar for African American and White adults, African Americans
tend to suffer more from ill effects because of lower incomes and lack of access to health
care facilities that provide alcoholism treatment (Caetano and Kaskutas 1996). This holds
for a bleak future for African-American adolescents who will abuse alcohol in the futm'e.
Afiican-American adolescents and their exposure and experience with alcohol is an issue
that needs to be addressed by alcohol companies because without more socially
responsible messages this target group will continue to suffer more than other target

groups in the general population.

14

Theoretical Framework

Two theories can be attributed to the preference of lifestyle appeals vs. product
oriented appeals. Active viewer theory suggests that adolescents’ perceptions of personal
reality, rewards expected to gain or consequences expected to avoid by drinking, differ
from their perceptions of social reality, rewards and consequences expected from their
actual drinking behavior (Austin and Meili 1994). Active viewer theory defines a child as
an active processor of information that the media feeds to them. The more experiences
adolescents have with the media, the more likely products being advertised will be
included in their schemata, which is an organized way to cognitively interpret stimuli
(Peter and Olson 2005). Because adolescents are cognitively aware of advertising, when
they see alcohol advertisements, the images and slogans become imbedded in their
schemata

Expectancy theory states that individuals drink alcohol because they associate
drinking with a positive outcome (Austin and Meili 1994). They create expectations of
what may come in the future if they drink alcohol. If the outcomes are positive, the
expectations become more likely and attractive for the individual. Therefore, the
individual expects those positive outcomes to be the result of drinking alcohol. For
example, “If I drink alcohol, I will be more popular”; “If I drink alcohol I will be
happier”; “If I drink alcohol, I will become sexier”. For these types of advertisements the
use of multiple persons, more than one person in the advertisement, works best in order
for the reader to relate to the overall “voice” of the advertisement (Austin and Meili

1994). This way there is a higher possibility of the reader identifying with at least one

15

person in the advertisement. Based on existing literature surrounding expectancy theory,
the following research question is posed:

RQl: When human models are featured in alcohol advertisements, will multiple
models appear?

Frequent exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines can negatively affect youth
because they are an impressionable audience. Over exposure to alcohol magazine
advertisements is especially detrimental to African Americans because they suffer
disproportionately from alcohol related illnesses such as heart and liver disease.

Alcohol companies have plenty of opportunities to reach African-American
adolescents through their advertising. In 2003, African-American adolescents saw 66%
more advertising for beer and ales, 81% more advertising for distilled liquors, and 45%
more advertising for alcopops in these magazines than did non-African—American youth.
Also 83% of non African-American youth saw 111 alcohol advertisements in magazines,
but 96% of African-American youth saw 171 alcohol advertisements in magazines
(Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2003). In these advertisements, positive appeals
would help adolescents further identify with the products and brand. Because of the
dominance of distilled liquors advertised in magazines as reported in existing research,
and based on African-American adolescents’ exposure to distilled liquor advertisements,
the follow research question is posed:

RQ2: Will distilled liquor brands be advertised more than regular and light beer,
wine, light drinks, malt liquor and alcopop brands?

When Afiican-American adolescents are exposed to numerous alcohol

advertisements in magazines, it raises the question of the interpretation of these

16

advertisements. Reader response theory states that the reader acts as an active agent and
uses their real-life experiences to form thoughts about the advertisements (Mora and
Welch 1997). By doing this the reader is able to contribute something to the
advertisement. Each reader brings something unique to the message interpretation
process since each reader can create their own opinion about the advertisement (Mora
and Welch 1997).

Alcohol advertisements are often seen as sales pitches to entice consumers to
purchase alcohol brands. Alcohol companies hope that the understanding of these
advertisements is strong enough to persuade these readers to purchase the product, thus
resulting in brand sales (Green 2002). Eventually after being exposed to either the same
advertisements or brands repeatedly, adolescents will begin to recognize the difi‘erent
“voices”, or advertising appeals, between advertisements. These “voices” pertain to
appeals displayed in the advertisement such as humor, sexual intimacy, prestige, taste,
etc. Adolescents will then begin to identify with the advertisements more and be more
easily persuaded to accept those “voices” which will help shape their future behavior
(Scott 1994).

If the “voices” adolescents most identify with are telling them drinking is cool,
fun and sexy, then they will adopt this same outlook for their drinking behavior in the
future. Alcohol advertisements rarely show the consequences associated with drinking
alcohol. Even if these consequence messages are present in the advertisement, they do

not take away from the net impression and visual appeals in the advertisement

(Fueroghne 1995).

17

Beyond these “voices” placed in advertisements, some African-American
adolescents’ first notion of alcohol habits comes from seeing their parents interact with
alcoholic beverages. Rodney, Mupier and Crafter (1996) found that one in four Afiican-
American adolescents have at least one alcoholic parent. Previous studies on African
Americans have noted that communication and interaction with parents is a very
important structmal variable for this racial group (Bush, Smith and Martin 1999). In their
study, the researchers found that parental communication concerning consumption
activities has a positive effect on attitude toward drinking behavior. African-American
adolescents that see their parents drinking behavior form beliefs about alcohol before
exposure to alcohol advertisements. Although African-American adolescents may learn
about alcohol consumption behavior fi'om their parents, alcohol advertisements are
additional, important sources through which these adolescents learn about alcohol brands
and products (Grube and Wallack 1994).

Besides their parents, adolescents do not usually have personal experience with
alcohol before viewing alcohol advertisements and form their opinion based on what is
depicted in the advertisement. Because of this lack of personal experience, alcohol
advertisers usually place tropes in their advertisements. Tropes are anything that stands
out in an advertisement that allows the reader to have an unanticipated or unexpected
perspective about the advertisement to help the advertisement breakthrough the clutter of
other similar looking advertisements (Scott 1994). For adolescents with no prior
experience with alcohol, a trope provides them with a way to think about the
advertisement from an unrelated perspective not linked to alcohol consumption (Scott

1994).

18

When brands use celebrity endorsers, it makes it easier for adolescent readers of
the advertisement to identify with the message of the advertisement. Since adolescents
have prior knowledge of these celebrities, the lifestyles of the celebrity can transfer to the
advertisement. The use of celebrity endorsers is important because often advertisers use
celebrities to refiesh their brands and the celebrities’ values transfer to the brand
(Erdogan and Baker 1999). In addition, when the celebrities are African American,
African-American adolescents can identify with them better because of ethnic
identification. Based on the concept of ethnic identification, the following question is
posed:

RQ3: When celebrities are featured in alcohol advertisements, are African-
American celebrities featured more often in Black or mainstream magazines?

Examples of the positive appeals developed by Cui (2000) include sexual
intimacy, pleasure, relaxation, social occasion, fun, comparison, and prestige/quality
advertisements. “How to make”, employment, and event/contest/promotion appeals were
added in this study. These appeals are neutral and are considered neither positive nor
negative. The event/contest/promotion appeal was implemented to code advertisements in
which alcohol brands were sponsoring or co-sponsoring events, such as music concerts,
and contests or promotions, for example, winning prizes for codes found under bottle
tops. When looking at these advertisements it became clear that this appeal further aided
readers’ identification with the brands, especially if they were interested in the event,
contest or promotion being advertised. Also, adolescents might be more responsive to this
appeal because of their interest in popular culture and the opportunity to win prizes.

Adolescents choosing to go to these events advertised will be further exposed to the

19

alcohol brand through signage at the event. Based on these observations, the following
research question is posed:

RQ4: Will the event/contest/promotion appeal be featured more often in
magazines that have higher youth readership?

Adolescents respond more positively to lifestyle image advertisements because
they like to see the positive results of drinking alcohol such as popularity and becoming
more attractive. For this reason, appeals with a negative connotation, i.e. responsibility,
are not often seen by adolescents. This appeal requires readers of the alcohol
advertisements to acknowledge the consequences of drinking and think about situations
that could be potentially dangerous due to alcohol consumption. Alcohol companies
know that these advertisements will not help sell their products; therefore, these types of
advertisements are rarely produced (Garfield, Chung and Rathouz 2003). Given that
alcohol advertisers are aware that positive appeals are more attractive to adolescents, the
following research question is posed:

RQ5: Will alcohol companies feature more advertisements that include positive or
responsibility appeals?

Adolescents who have had prior experience with alcohol will look at the
advertisements as reinforcing what they believe to be true as far as alcohol being a
catalyst for happy social occasions or fun times with the opposite sex. But if the prior
experience with alcohol was negative, these adolescents will either not use alcohol, or
continue to drink alcohol based upon the severity of the negative consequences
encountered (Grube and Wallack 1994). These alcohol advertisements can generate their

own idealized images which can, in turn, make readers of the advertisement think that the

20

product can move them closer to their ideal state of happiness (Hirschman and Thompson
1997). These ideal states of happiness include, but are not limited to, being popular,
obtaining more dates, and making new fi'iends. Advertisements then represent the point
between imagination and how readers want to view their actual selves (Scott 1994). For
adolescents it becomes easy to become engaged in the imaginary and fantasy inmges
portrayed in alcohol advertisements, thus leading them to imitate what is shown in these
advertisements.

Alcohol advertisers often dismiss the claims that they promote underage drinking
to adolescents. Because of the rarity of showing negative consequences of drinking in
their advertisements, often alcohol companies include “drink responsibly” messages in
their advertisements. These messages are implemented to cormter the accusations that
alcohol companies want consumers to abuse their products. Although these messages
may not always be fully visible, they give readers of the advertisements a positive
outlook on the alcohol company (Rozrrowski 2005), which suggest that drink responsibly
messages will not be prominently displayed. As such, the following research question is
posed:

RQ6: When drink responsibly messages appear in alcohol advertisements, are
they more often displayed prominently or in the background?

Although many research studies have focused on alcohol advertising in the media,
few have focused on African-American adolescents’ exposure to alcohol advertisements
in magazines. Existing research has primarily focused on youth as a group and their

exposure to alcohol advertising (Galvan and Caetano 2003).

21

This research examines alcohol advertisements in top mainstream and Black
magazines read by the 18-24 demographic during 2000-2005 for the purpose of
examining African-American adolescents’ exposure to alcohol advertisements. The
advertising categories were taken from Cui’s (2000) study and three new advertising
appeals - employment, “how to make”, and event/contest/promotion were added because
of their repeated presence in the magazines. Drink responsibility message was another
variable added based on Roznowski’s (2005) study, which found consumers have
positive reactions toward alcohol companies that include drink responsibility messages in
their advertisements.

Vibe magazine was an important addition because it has not been examined for
alcohol advertisements, has a very high youth and African-American readership, and has
not been in circulation as long as the other magazines in this study. This study also
looked at the prominence of drink responsibly messages based on their visibility to

readers of advertisements.

Method
Content analysis, a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a
communication (N euendorf 2001), was used to examine alcohol advertisements. Alcohol
advertisements printed in Black Enterprise, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Gentlemen ’3
Quarterly (GQ) and Vibe magazines, were coded from 2000-2005. All alcohol
advertisements printed in those magazines were examined. Coding for the advertisements
were based on Cui’s (2000) study, which examined alcohol advertisements in women’s

mainstream and Black magazines. She found that alcohol advertising and distinct

22

advertising appeals were more concentrated in Black magazines versus mainstream
magazines.

The magazines were selected based on their popularity and high readership
among 18-24 college-aged young adults and their availability in hard copy. Media
Research Incorporated (MRI) data were used to compile two lists of the top 20 magazines
read by the 18-24 year old age group—one list for Afiican Americans and another list for
all others (See Table 1).

Table 1

Top Magazines Read by African Americans and all other groups, ages 18-24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

African American All Others
YM 1 YM
Essence 2 Stufl
F HM 3 F HM
Ebony 4 Jane
Vibe 5 Spin
Maxim 6 Maxim
Allure 7 Allure
Teen People 8 Teen People
Seventeen 9 Seventeen
Black Enterprise 10 Rolling Stone
Source 1 1 Source
Marie Claire 12 Marie Claire
Modern Bride 13 Modern Bride
Jet 14 Vibe + Spin @
Cosmopolitan 1 5 Cosmopolitan
Vibe + Spin @ 16 Vibe
ESPN The Magazine 17 ESPN The Magazine
GQ - Gentlemen 's Quarterly 18 GQ - Gentlemen 's Quarterly
In Style 19 In Style
Rolling Stone 20 Bridal Guide

 

 

Source: 2004 MRI Doublebase

Cosmopolitan and GQ (Gentlemen ’s Quarterly), had the same number ranking

among both groups, 15 and 18, respectively. Essence and Black Enterprise were ranked

23

at two and ten for the list of magazines read by African Americans. Although Ebony was
ranked number four among magazines read by African Americans, it was not included in
this study because the magazine was not available in hard copy in either the university or
local libraries. Microfilm copies were available but not used because of the poor re-print
quality and difficulty in determining black and white versus color advertisements.

Hard copies of the magazines were found at the Michigan State University Main
Library and Livonia (MI) Civic Center Library. Missing magazine issues were obtained
through interlibrary loan. Photocopies were made of each alcohol advertisement.
Although photocopies were not in color, black and white advertisements were noted on
the advertisements. The data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS) version 13.0.

The following variables were coded:

Name of Magazine: Black Enterprise, Cosmopolitan, Essence, GQ, and Vibe.

Three magazines were chosen based on their popularity among different ethnic
and age groups. Cosmopolitan launched in 1886 and is a women’s magazine that focuses
on consumer information, romance, fashion and exercise. It pitches itself as the magazine
for fun and fearless females. The magazine has a 24% youth readership2 (Center on
Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002).

GQ magazine is geared toward men and started in 1931. It features fashion,
relationship and men’s issues. GQ positions itself as the magazine for men who want to
‘live smart and look sharp’. GQ has 11% youth readership (Center on Alcohol Marketing

and Youth 2002).

 

2 Youth readership is defined as the reading audience between the ages of 12-20.

24

Vibe began publishing in 1993 and offers its readers fashion, rap and rhythm &
blues music and artists’ news. Vibe reaches more Afiican-American youth and people of
color ages 18-24 than any of other magazines examined in this study (Mediamark
Research Inc 2003). Vibe has the highest youth readership of the five magazines, 41%,
which makes the magazine ideal for targeting the youth population (Center on Alcohol
Marketing and Youth 2002). Although Vibe reaches 61% of African-American youth, it
is not marketed as a Black magazine, but rather as a voice for urban music and culture
that celebrates multiculturalism. Almost 48% of Vibe magazine readers are between the
ages of 18-24 and 68.2% of these readers are African American.

Essence and Black Enterprise identify as Black magazines and cater to culture
and issues of specific interest to African Americans, as well as mainstream topics.

Essence, launched in 1970, addresses beauty, relationships, and current event
issues from the African-American perspective. For the past three decades the magazine
has positioned itself as the only magazine dedicated to African-American women and
their lives. Seventy-six percent of Essence readers are African-American women
(Mediamark Research Inc 2005). Essence has 17% youth readership (Center on Alcohol
Marketing and Youth 2002).

Black Enterprise features current events, money management and career options
from an Afi'o-centric perspective. The magazine began publishing in 1970 and positions
itself as a platform for the ideas and ambitions of African-American business people and
entrepreneurs. Black Enterprise has 11% youth readership (Center on Alcohol Marketing
and Youth 2002) and readers consist of an equal number of men and women between the

ages of 18-24 (23%) (Mendelsohn Media Research Inc 2003).

25

Month and Year: These variables were coded to determine if there were seasonal
and annual differences for alcohol advertisements.

Alcohol Product Category: Relying on Cui’s (2000) study as a guide, product
categories were divided into six categories: 1) regular beer, 2) light beer, 3) malt liquor,
4) wine and light drinks, 5) distilled liquor and 6) alcopops. Regular beers consisted of
beers belonging to traditional beer categories. Light beers are beers with lower
cholesterol and fewer calories and carbohydrates. They often have the words “light” or
“lite” on the label. Malt liquor has higher alcohol content than beer, usually around 40%.
Wine and light drinks are usually made from grapes and other fi'uits and have an alcohol
content of between 10-15%. Examples of wines and light drinks include champagne,
table wines, wine coolers and sparkling wines. Distilled liquors are hard liquors with a
20% or higher alcohol content. These liquors usually have the most elaborate packaging
of all the alcohol categories and consist of gins, rums, vodkas and cognacs. Alcopops
were added because these alcoholic beverages were introduced after Cui’s study and are
popular among adolescents because of their sweet taste. Alcopops is a relatively new
category and consists of sweet drinks with an alcohol content of 5-7%, which is a higher
alcohol content than of some beers. Examples of alcopops include Smirnoff Ice and
Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Alcohol Brand Name: Brand name was coded to determine which brands and
alcohol companies advertised the most and least often in the magazines. Existing research
indicates that distilled liquor companies, compared to other alcohol companies, advertise
more often in magazines that target Afiican-American youth (Center on Alcohol

Marketing and Youth 2002).

26

Page Size and color: Color and black and white advertisements of one half page
or larger were examined.

Human Models: An advertisement was only counted as having a human model if
the whole body could be seen in the advertisement. Body parts such as a leg or a hand
were not counted as a human model. For the animal category only real animals were
counted; neither cartoon nor fictional characters were coded. Captain Morgan’s Parrot
Bay rum featured a colorful parrot in some of their advertisements, but this was neither
considered a fictional character nor a cartoon. The parrot was seen more as a sketch than
as a fictional or cartoon character that would be recognized by adolescents. The use of
human models is important since adolescents are attracted to lifestyle image advertising
in which they see qualities and characteristics in the models of these advertisements that
they would like to have.

Celebrity Endorser: Celebrity endorsers were coded no matter their level of
stardom. Some of the celebrity endorsers appearing in alcohol advertisements include
Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe and Jill Scott fiom the rap and rhythm and blues music genres,
models Veronica Webb and Irnan, both African American, and African-American actor
and actress Laurence F ishburne and Pam Grier. With the use of African-American
celebrity endorsers, alcohol brands not only appeal to Afiican-American adolescents
because of the celebrity, but also through the concept of ethnic identification.

Ethnicity: The ethnicity of models was determined based on skin color and facial
features. Coded racial groups included Black, White, Asian, and Hispanic ethnicities. If

both Black and White human models were in an advertisement, the advertisement was

27

coded as Black and White. If other ethnicities other than Black and White appeared in
advertisements, the advertisement was coded as other.

Gender and Number of People in Ads: Four categories were coded to examine
gender: one person, mixed gender couple, same gender couple, and group of people,
which was coded as more than two models.

Advertising Appeals: The appeals coded in this study were taken from Cui’s
(2000) study: 1) sexual intimacy, 2) relaxation, 3) social occasion, 4) prestige/quality, 5)
tradition, 6) pleasure, 7) fun, 8) comparison, and 9) responsibility. Three categories were
added to this study: employment, “how to make”, and event/contest/promotion appeals.

Sexual intimacy advertisements feature two people in a close, romantic
atmosphere such as dancing in a night club. Relaxation appeals depict people in a
relaxed, non-stressful atmosphere such as lounging on a beach or resting in bed. Social
occasion appeals depict people engaging in an informal, firn encounter that is non-
romantic such as fiiends going to dinner.

Prestige/quality advertisements project an upscale and superior quality on the
alcohol brand. Tradition advertisements convey the long history and origin of the
product, such as stating how many years the brand has been in existence or the brand’s
country of origin. Pleasure appeals stress the great taste of the product and often show
individuals drinking the beverage.

Fun appeals feature people in an extremely festive mood such as during holidays.
Comparison advertisements compare two brands and one brand always claims superiority
whether it is in taste, price, packaging, etc. Responsibility appeals are used in

advertisements that focus solely on being careful when drinking and to drink responsibly

28

in order to avoid negative consequences. These advertisements typically do not feature
hmnan models and rely on a picture of the product and text to convey the message of
drinking responsibly.

Employment advertisements feature the alcohol brand listing reasons why the
company is a great employer and provides a website for those interested in employment
opportunities. “How to make ” advertisements give the reader recipes and directions on
how to make alcoholic drinks with the alcohol brand being advertised.
Event/contest/promotion advertisements link the alcohol brand with an event, contest or
promotion such as music concerts and holiday or sporting events.

Advertisements not falling under these categories were coded as cannot tell/other.
This category included advertisements with abstract pictures and no text or
advertisements just featuring a picture of the product with no text. There was no way to
determine which appeal these advertisements were using. When human models were
featured the picture was the primary element used to rate the advertisement; if no human
models were included, the text was used to rate the advertisement.

Responsibly Message: This variable was coded to determine if alcohol companies
included “drink responsibly” messages in their advertisements. The alcohol industry is
self-regulated and codes have been implemented to require that 50% of an alcohol
company’s advertisements reach legal drinking age consumers (Federal Trade
Commission 1999). There is no standard code for implementing drink responsibly
messages in alcohol advertisements, but many alcohol companies do so in order to avoid

criticism.

29

Examples of drink responsibly messages include “Please enjoy our product
responsibly” and “Please drink responsibly”. If drink responsibly messages were included
in the advertisement, the visibility of the message was also coded. In order for drink
responsibly messages to be considered visible, the message had to be clearly portrayed in
the advertisement with a graphic font size of 10 or larger. Also the color of the text could
not blend into the background and the message had to be horizontal, not vertical along the
side of the page. If visual responsibly messages give readers a more positive outlook on
the brand (Roznowski 2005), then advertisers should make sure their advertisements
reflect a clearly visual drink responsibly message. When drink responsibly messages are
not clearly visible in an advertisement, the reader only focuses on the appeal presented
and not how to use the product responsibly.

Inter-coder Reliability: Two coders established inter-coder reliability. Ten percent
of the advertisements were coded to establish inter-coder reliability. Every tenth
advertisement was used to compute inter-coder reliability and these advertisements were
included in the sample. Scott’s pi inter-coder reliability statistic was used to determine
reliability for each variable. Magazine title, month, year, page size, human models versus
animals, alcohol brand name, drink responsibly message, ethnicity and number of people
in advertisements received a score of 1.0. There were discrepancies for four of the
advertising appeals, alcohol product category and the use of a celebrity in an
advertisement. The Scott’s pi reliability statistics for these variables were:
prestige/quality, .92; celebrity and alcohol product categories, .94, and pleasure, social

occasion and tradition variables, .98.

30

Results
Frequencies
A total of 1,491 alcohol advertisements were analyzed from all six magazines for
2000-2005. Black Enterprise and Vibe both had similar average monthly page counts at
183 and 184. Essence had an average page count of 209. The magazines with the highest
average page counts were Cosmopolitan and GQ with 280 and 304 pages respectively.
The most popular months for alcohol advertisements were November and December,
which can be attributed to the holiday seasons. Most of Black Enterprise, Essence, and
Vibe’s alcohol advertisements appeared in December.
The number of alcohol advertisements were approximately the same in 2000 and
2001, then slightly increased in 2002, but continued to decrease from 2003-2005.
Although none of the magazines had a continuous decrease in alcohol advertisements, the
advertisements in Essence either stayed the same or decreased fiom 2000-2005. GQ had
the largest decrease in alcohol advertisements from 113 advertisements in 2000 to 14
advertisements in 2005, while Vibe doubled its number of alcohol advertisements from
24 in 2000 to 50 in 2005 (See Table 2).
Table 2

Number of Alcohol Advertisements per Magazine by Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Total
Magazines 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

BlackEnterprise 48(24%) 28(14%) 320%) 33 (17%) 30(15%) 29(14%) 200(13%)
Essence 27 (28%) 22 (24%) IS(I6%) 13(14%)13(14%) 4(4%) 94 (6%)
Vibe 24 (8%) 57(18%) 55(17%) 75 (23%) 59(18%) 500%) 320 (22%)
GQ 113 (21%)l112 (21%) 122 (23%)[80 (15%) 9o (18%) 14 (2%) 537 (36%)
Cosmopolitan 75 (22%) [77 (23%) 74 (22%) |50(14%) 33 (10%) 31 (9%) 340(23%)
Total 287 (19%)I296 (20%) 29s (20%)]251(17%) 231 (15%) 128 (9%) 1491 (100%)

 

31

Distilled liquors appeared in 86.1% (N=1284) of magazine advertisements (see
Table 3). Although Essence had the least amount of alcohol advertisements analyzed,
distilled liquors accounted for 90% of its alcohol advertisements. Cosmopolitan was the
only magazine to advertise alcopops, and featured the largest number of light beer
advertisements. Nearly half of all malt liquor ads appeared in Vibe (See Table 3).
Table 3

Frequency of Product Categories per Magazine

 

Product Category Total
Wine
and
Regular Light Malt Light Distilled
Mam” Beer Beer Liquor Drinks Liquor Alcopops

Black Enterprise 28 (14%)17 (3%) 0 (0%) 2 (1%) 163 (82%) 0 (0%) 200 (13%)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essence 5 (5%) 1(1%) 0 (0%) 3 (3%) 85 (91%) o (0%) 94 (6%)
Vibe 29 (9%) 11(3%) 15 (4%) 5 (2%) 260 (82%) o (0%) 320 (22%)
GQ 23 (4%) 4(1%) 4(1%) 27 (5%) 479 (89%) 0(0%) 537 (36%)
Cosmopolitan 11(3%) 14 (4%) 13 (4%) 3 (1%) 297 (87%) 2 (1%) 340 (23%)
Total 96 (6%) 37 (2%) 32 (2%) 40(3%) 1284 (86%)12(l%) 1491 (100%)

 

Table 4 provides a breakdown of the top ten alcoholic beverage brand
advertisements printed in the magazines—all are distilled liquors. Hennessy and
Courvoisier, two of the more expensive alcohol brands fi'om the list, advertised most
often in Vibe. Remy Martin, Courvoisier, Hennessy and Martel], all cognacs, all offer
regular and more prestige products for their brands ranging from $25 to $1,500 dollars.
Absolut and Skyy, both vodkas, are in the $20-$30 dollar price range, while Bacardi,
Captain Morgan and Crown Royal are in the $10-$30 price range. Tanqueray is priced

between $25-$40 dollars.

32

Table 4

Top Ten Distilled Liquor Brands per Magazine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magazines

Black
Brands Enterprise Essence Vibe 0Q Cosmopolitan Total
Bacardi 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 43 (22%) 61 (27%) 37 (20%) 141 (18%)
Hennessy 31 (24%) 20 (31%) 33 (18%) 22 (10%) 10 (5%) 116 (l 5%)
Absolut 38 (29%) 9 (14%) 23 (13%) 24 (11%) 11 (5%) 105 (14%
Skyy 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 27 (14%) 4 (2%) 47 (26%) 78 (10%)
Captain Morgan 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 32 (14%) 37 (20%) 69 (8%)
Martel] 29 (22%) 0 (0%) 19 (11%) 14 (6%) 0 (0%) 62 (8%)
Coru'voisier 0 (0%) 7 (11%) 29 (17%) 20 (9%) 0 (0%) 56 (7%)
Crown Royal 17 (13%) 14 (22%) WA) 17 (8%) 5 (3%) 53 (7%)
Remy Martin 2 (2%) 7(11%L 11 (5%) fi%) 27 (15%) 53 (7%)
Tanqueray 13 (10%) 8 (11%) 0 (0%) 24 (11%) 5 (3%) 50 (6%)
Total 130 (17%) 65 (8%) 185 (24%) 224 (28%) 179 (23%) 783 (100%)

 

As previously mentioned, distilled liquors advertised the most in all the

magazines. Martel], Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Remy Martin are all cognacs. Captain

Morgan and Bacardi are rums. Seagrams is a brand of gin; Jose Cuervo is a brand of

tequila; and Jim Beam is a brand of whiskey. Absolut and Hennessy were consistently

advertised throughout Black Enterprise and Vibe. Although Vibe doesn’t identify as a

Black publication, the fact remains that 61% of its readers are African-American

adolescents. Bacardi appeared 60 times in GQ, the most impressions of any brand. Vibe

and GQ were the only magazines to have seven alcohol brands appear more than 21 times

in their magazines. A majority of Martel], Absolut, and Hennessy advertisements

appeared in Black magazines.

A lifestyle appeal was used most often, prestige and quality, 32.6% (n=486), in

the magazines’ alcohol advertisements, which supports Covell’s (1992) study which

33

 

found that young adults favor lifestyle image advertisements rather than product or

quality oriented advertisements (Table 5). The prestige and quality lifestyle appeal

accounted for 37% of advertisements in GQ, and was the most advertised appeal in every

magazine except Cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan advertised two appeals equally, sexual

intimacy and pleasure, which accounted for 40% of the advertisements. Cosmopolitan

advertised the responsibility appeal more than any other magazine.

Advertising Appeals per Magazine

Table 5

 

ac

Enterprise

sence

Vibe

Magazines

 

lea

ICosrnopolitan [Total

 

 

21 (10%) 14(15%) 40(13%) 63(12%)
0(0%) 2(0.5%)

1 (0.5%)

13 (2%)

18 (9%)l 5 (6%)I 21 (7%)l 43 (8%)I

70 (20%) 08 (14%)
13 (4%) 29 (2%)

20 (6%)] 107 (7%)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

|Tradition 33(17%)| 9(9%)| 19(o%)|o3 (12%) 23 (7%)]147(10%)

estige/

Quality 95 (48%)] 31 (33%)l119(36%)1201 (37%) 40 (12%)L86 (33%)

How to I I

Make" 0 (0%) 8 (9%) 24 (8%) 43 (8%)[

Pleasure 23(11%) 150%) 42(13%) 41(8%)
0(0%) 6(6%) 23 (ii/T) 47 (9%) 38(11%) 114(8%)
0(0%) 0(0%) 7(2%) 16(3%)| 1(0.5%) 24 (2%)
4(2%) 1(1%) 0(0%) 0(0%)! 5(2%)10(0.6%)
2(1%)U 4(4%) 22 (7%) 7(1%) 1(0.5%) 36 (2%)
2(1%)| 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 2(0.2%)
1(0.5)l

 

 

 

200(13%)1 94 (6%) 20 (22%) 37 (36%)

 

1(1%) 1(0.5%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 3 (0.2%)
340 (23%) 1(100%)

 

For women’s magazines, the prestige/quality appeal appeared in one-third of

Essence ’s alcohol advertisements, but only accounted for 12% (n=40) of Cosmopolitan ’s

advertisements. Vibe used this appeal in 36% (n=119) of its advertisements. The pleasure

34

 

appeal which focuses on product taste can entice youth to take their first drink of alcohol,
especially if the advertisement describes the taste in a very visual manner. For the
magazines with the highest percentage of youth readerships, Vibe and Cosmopolitan, the
pleasure appeal was the second most advertised appeal in Vibe (13%) and appeared in
20% (n=70) of advertisements in Cosmopolitan. This appeal and the sexual intimacy
appeal tied for the most appearances in Cosmopolitan alcohol advertisements.

Alcohol advertisers are not only telling readers about the taste of their products,
but also how to make great tasting drinks with their products as. Another appeal, “how to
make”, which has not been researched in other alcohol studies, appeared most often in
Cosmopolitan. Both the pleasure and “how to make” appeals were featm'ed most often in
Cosmopolitan. Black Enterprise was the only magazine to advertise employment
opportunities with alcohol companies.

Research Questions Analysis

RQl asked if more than one person would be in advertisements featuring human
models. Human models were not used in a majority of the advertisements, but when they
were both males and females were featured in 19.7% (n=293) of the advertisements. For
advertisements with only one person, males appeared slightly more often than females,
16.6% (n=247) and 14% (n=217) respectively. Essence had the highest percentage, 53%
(n=23), of alcohol advertisements featuring more than one person.

African-American models (28.6%, n=427) were featured more often that White
models (6.2%, n=242). Hispanic (n=3) and Asian (n=3) models were rarely featured.
Cosmopolitan featured human models in 62% (n=211) of its alcohol advertisements and

Black Enterprise and GQ used human models in 50% (n=99, n=271, respectively) of their

35

alcohol advertisements. Vibe featured Afiican-American models in 28% (n=39) of the
advertisements that had human models.

RQ2 queried whether distilled liquor brands would be advertised more than other
alcohol brand categories. More than 80% of all the magazine alcohol advertisements
were for distilled liquors. This is consistent with previous research studies conducted by
the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, which reported that adolescents were over
exposed to distilled liquor advertisements. While Bacardi, Remy Martin, Courvoisier,
Captain Morgan and Skyy advertised more in the mainstream magazines, Hennessy,
Absolut, Crown Royal, Martell and Tanqueray advertised more in the Black magazines.

RQ3 considered whether African-American celebrities would be featured more
often in Black magazines. Celebrities appeared in 7% (n=104) of alcohol advertisements.
Vibe featured a majority of the celebrity related alcohol advertisements, 12% (n=37)
followed by Black Enterprise 15% (n=30). Afiican-American celebrity endorsers that
appeared in Black Enterprise included Mos Def and Issac Hayes; in Essence both
Veronica Webb and Jill Scott appeared in alcohol advertisements; and Busta Rhymes,
Pam Grier, and Irnan were featured in Vibe ’3 alcohol advertisements.

RQ4 questioned whether the event/contest/promotion appeal would appear in
magazines with higher youth readerships. Vibe had the largest percentage of alcohol
advertisements that featured events, contests or promotions. This appeal accounted for
7% of Vibe ’s advertisements, that is, 22 out of a possible 36 of these advertisements
appeared in the magazine. Therefore this appeal was advertised most often in the

magazine with the highest percentage of African American and youth readership.

36

Cosmopolitan had the second highest youth readership; however, the magazines featured
only one event/contents promotion alcohol advertisement.

RQS examined whether positive appeals would be advertised more than
responsibility appeals. Responsibility appeals were featured in less than 1% of all
advertisements. Responsibility appeals only appeared in Black Enterprise, Essence and
Cosmopolitan. This appeal accounted for 2% of advertisements in Black Enterprise and
Cosmopolitan and 1% of advertisements in Essence.

RQ6 queried whether drink responsibly messages would be visible in alcohol
advertisements. Although drink responsibly messages were in a majority of
advertisements, only one-third of these messages were clearly visible. Cosmopolitan had
the highest percentage, 35% (n=120), of visible drink responsibly messages in alcohol

advertisements, while Vibe had the smallest percentage, 18% (n=58).

Discussion

Underage drinking and alcohol use is cause for national concern (Federal Trade
Commission 1999). By advertising in magazines, alcohol companies are not only
reaching adolescents, but also have the ability to leave positive images about their brands
with this impressionable audience.

The results of this study support that advertising companies continue to use
lifestyle images and positive advertising appeals such as sexual intimacy and
prestige/quality to convey positive, fun, and quality images for alcohol products and
brands. These findings support exiting research (Cui 2000), which states that lifestyle

image advertising is most appealing to adolescents. These findings are disconcerting

37

when considered in the context of African-American adolescents’ disproportionate
exposure to alcohol advertisements. That is, expectancy theory proposes that individuals
associate drinking with positive outcomes.

African-American adolescents were bombarded with images for distilled liquors,
which accounted for over 85% of the advertisements analyzed. This high percentage of
distilled liquors is in agreement with previous studies conducted by Alaniz (1998),
Galvan, Frank and Caetano (2003), Garfield, Craig, Chung and Rathouz (2003), Green
(2002), and Hingson (2004), which addressed the prevalence of hard liquor advertising
targeted to African-American youth. Distilled liquor brands such as Martell, Hennessy
and Absolut advertised most often in Black magazines and are particularly noteworthy
because they contain more alcohol than beer, wine, light drinks, malt liquors or alcopops.

Vibe was an interesting case in this study. This relatively new magazine was
introduced in the 1990’s and has not been examined in terms of alcohol advertisements.
Although more than half of its reading audience is African American, it does not market
itself as a Black magazine because it focuses more on pop culture and music.
Nonetheless, based on its high African-American youth readership, Vibe should
obviously be classified as a Black magazine. This magazine is a unique print medium for
alcohol advertisers because it gives them the opportunity to reach a great number of
African-American adolescents. With the excessive amount of alcohol advertising, use of
positive appeals, and lack of drink responsibly messages, Vibe has great potential to
influence the drinking behavior habits of African-American adolescents.

In regard to using the event/contest/promotion appeal, Vibe surpassed the other

magazines by far, 7% (n=22) of its advertisements. The appeal appeared in 1% (n=7) of

38

the advertisements in GQ; 4% (n=4) of advertisements in Essence; 1% (n=2) of
advertisements in Black Enterprise; and 0.5% (n=1) of advertisements in Cosmopolitan.
By advertising this appeal so often, the Vibe readers learn that alcohol companies sponsor
popular events, contests or promotions that are appealing to them. In addition, readers are
encouraged to consume the sponsoring brand of alcohol, which will potentially move
them one step closer to obtaining event tickets, winning a contest, or obtaining promotion
items.

Although the responsibility appeal was rarely advertised in the magazines, Vibe
had no responsibility appeal advertisements. This finding is especially troubling when
one considers the high percentage of African-American youth who read the magazine.
GQ also did not advertise this appeal, but has a much lower youth readership, 11%
compared with Vibe ’s 41% youth readership. Cosmopolitan acknowledged the youth
readership on their magazine by featuring five responsibility advertisements during the
six years examined.

Alcohol companies fight claims that their advertisements attract youth by placing
drink responsibly messages in their advertisements. Although Roznowski (2005)
discussed drink responsibly messages in her study, the visibility of these messages were
not analyzed. In this current study, three criteria were established to explain the lack of
visibility of drink responsibly messages in alcohol advertisements. First, the advertising
text is so small it cannot be seen without close examination. Second, the color of the text
for the drink responsibly message blends in with the background of the advertisement.
Third, the type is parallel to the left side of the page, which requires readers to tilt their

heads to read the message.

39

Although 75.5% (n=1125) of the alcohol ads had drink responsibly messages,
only 29.2% (n=435) of these ads were clearly visible. Roznowski (2005) found that
consumers have more positive reactions to alcohol companies who include drink
responsibly messages in their advertisements. However, adolescents are less likely to
favor these advertisements, which is likely an indication as to why alcohol companies
have not increased the visibility of drink responsibly messages in their advertisements.

The lack of clearly visible drink responsibly messages in the advertisements are
problematic because this indicates that adolescents viewing these advertisements are
primarily being exposed to alcohol’s positive attributes. This practice is especially
troublesome in Vibe since this magazine had the smallest percentage of clearly visible
drink responsibly messages and the largest percentage of youth readership.
This sends a message to African-American adolescents that drinking is a social norm.
More specifically, if the voice of the advertisement is portraying drinking as harmless and
drink responsibly messages are either not present or not clearly visible; readers are more
likely to associate drinking with positive outcomes.

Although human models were not frequently used in the magazines’ alcohol
advertisements, when used, in both mainstream and Black magazines they were more
often African American. The use of African-American models more than other ethnic
groups can be linked to the concept of ethnic identification (Green 1999). Alcohol
advertisers believe African-American adolescents will identify more with advertisements
featuring models that look similar to them. The use of Afiican-American models help
Afiican-American adolescents relate to the images and messages portrayed in the

advertisements.

40

Mainstream magazines had the highest percentages of African-American models.
For advertisements featuring human models, 75% (n=197) of the human models in GQ
and 78% (n=166) in Cosmopolitan were African American. Thirty percent ( =39) of the
human models were African American in Vibe. African-American models appeared in
20% (n=20) of Black Enterprise ’s alcohol advertisements and 12% (n=5) of Essence ’s
alcohol advertisements.

As mentioned earlier, brands often use celebrities as a trepe to encourage
adolescents to identify with advertisements (Erdogan and Baker 1999). By using popular
emerging and established celebrities, these alcohol brands transfer celebrities’ lifestyles
to products. Furthermore, since African Americans use media as information resources
(Green 1999), celebrities appearing in the advertisements function as information agents.

The use of celebrity endorsers in advertisements is appealing to adolescents
(Grube and Wallack 1994). This study’s findings support Grube and Wallack (1994)
work, which maintains that celebrity endorsers popular with adolescents are most often
featured. African-American adolescents had the most exposure to these types of
advertisements because the majority of celebrity alcohol advertisements were in Black
Enterprise, Essence, and Vibe. Of these magazines, Vibe had the largest number of
celebrity endorser advertisements (n=3 7). Celebrity endorsers appearing in Vibe included
music artists such as Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def and Jill Scott, models Veronica
Webb and Irnan, and actors Issac Hayes and Laurence Fishburne.

This finding, combined with the fact that Afiican-American models are used most
often in alcohol advertisements, helps solidify the link between the celebrity and the

brand. When alcohol advertisers use African-American celebrities in their

41

advertisements, they depend on the celebrity to feature as a trope (Scott 1994). When
popular actors, actresses, rap and rhythm and blues artists, and models are used in these
advertisements, African-American adolescents are more likely to relate to the

advertisements.

Limitations and Future Research

Ebony magazine was not examined in this study. Because Ebony is read by a large
percentage of African-American adolescents, an examination of the magazine could have
added depth to this research study. Future studies for this topic should include Ebony.

Another limitation to this research study is the lack of qualitative data. It would be
beneficial to conduct focus groups, surveys, experiments and/or in depth interviews with
African-American adolescents and young adults. These qualitative measures could
provide key insights regarding consumers’ brand choices and preferences, drinking
behavior, and recall of specific magazine alcohol advertisements.

For future research it would be interesting to compare alcohol advertisements in
Vibe with other music magazines such as Spin and Rolling Stone. Since Vibe classifies
itself as a music magazine, it would be a valuable exercise to determine whether the
number of alcohol advertisements and appeals are comparable since a majority of Spin

and Rolling Stone magazines’ adolescent readers are not Afiican American.

Implications

To address the problem of underage drinking and the overexposure of Afiican-

American adolescents to magazine alcohol advertisements, there have been suggestions

42

regarding enforcing stronger code standards in the alcohol industry. Mothers Against
Drunk Driving (MADD) has suggested that alcohol companies refrain from advertising in
media venues where more than 10% of the audience is under the legal drinking age of
twenty-one (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth 2002). This would help solve the
problems associated with the claim made by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
(2005) that 50% of alcohol advertisements appeared in magazines read by underage
youth. Since all of the magazines analyzed for this study have youth readerships between
11% and 41%, this rule would eliminate alcohol advertisements in these magazines,
which would reduce African-American adolescents’ exposure to alcohol advertisements
in these magazines

Regulations, such as specific advertisement placements, should also be enforced
regarding the number of responsibility appeal magazine advertisements alcohol
companies should produce each year. Because Afiican Americans are over exposed to
lifestyle image appeals in alcohol advertisements, they need to see advertisements that
counter these images. Viewing advertisements that show the consequences and realities
of excessive drinking will help adolescents have a more realistic view of alcohol
consumption. Requiring alcohol companies to produce responsibility appeal
advertisements would help ensure that the alcohol images seen by African-American
adolescents are more balanced.

In addition to more strict regulations on responsibility appeal advertisements, all
alcohol companies’ magazine advertisements should contain some form of the “drink

responsibly” message. Not only should all advertisements carry this message, but they

43

should be completely visible to the reader. African-American adolescents need to be
reminded that when they choose not to drink responsibly dire consequences can occur.
The purpose of this study was to provide insight regarding the disproportionate
amount of alcohol advertising seen by Afiican-American adolescents in mainstream and
Black magazines. The results of this study indicate that there is a need to conduct alcohol
advertising research that focuses solely on African-American youth. A primary purpose
of future research should be to develop communication campaigns designed to dispel
existing misinformation surrounding the outcomes of excessive alcohol drinking and to
encourage more stringent restrictions on alcohol advertisements placed in magazines that
target adolescents. Such measures may work toward reducing the disproportionate impact

alcohol related diseases have on members of the African-American community.

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