In the late 1990s, the U.S. Center for Media Education (CME) published a series of reports on how alcohol and tobacco companies were using the Internet to target young people. At that time, it was one of the first organizations to voice concerns over alcohol companies using the Internet to avoid the traditional advertising legislation in place for radio, television and magazines. The Web made it easy for alcohol marketers to blur the lines between marketing and entertainment. And, with its large youth demographic, it was a natural medium for reaching and influencing young drinkers.
Another part of the Web's appeal was its interactive nature, which permitted companies to engage individual users.
The Web – live, interactive and reader-friendly – offers advertisers an astonishing array of tools for creating community among its users. The advertising industry calls this approach "relational marketing," and it is particularly useful for companies like alcohol and tobacco producers who are competing for a shrinking pool of buyers, where brand loyalty is viewed as key to long-term survival.
InfoActive Kids, Winter 1997.
Center for Media Education.
The CME noted that relational marketing plugs right into the adolescent market, where coolness and self-identity are based on belonging.
In its Absolut Web report in 1997, the CME surveyed the content of more than 100 commercial Web sites to see whether or not they were actively engaging kids and teens. (In an updated report in 1998, an additional 48 sites were examined.) Sites were analysed based on four categories: youth appeal, privacy/data collection, age disclaimers and information on substance abuse.The study found several different types of online alcohol sites – geared towards different audiences. Generally, sites for microbreweries and wine companies appeared to target older, wealthier customers. But many commercial sites for beer and liquor companies – 62 per cent of total sites surveyed – seemed specifically designed to appeal to college and high school students. The report concluded: "These sites exude a joyful abandon about drinking: that it is good, clean, sexy and rebellious fun that doesn't hurt anybody."
Percentage of sites identified by the CME as appealing to youth
Total Sites | Beer Sites | Spirits Sites | Wine Sites |
62% | 82% | 72% | 10% |
The CME identified the following strategies commonly used on alcohol sites to attract young people:
Ineffective age disclaimers that do nothing to prevent underage visitors from accessing the site.
- Glorification of youth culture, featuring hip, attitude-laden language, humour, music, sex chat, popular performers, movie reviews and other events that would appeal to youth.
- Games and contests, often involving brands and brand-related characters.
- Recipes, especially for "bridge" drinks or "alco-pop" – sweet, alcoholic drinks that are designed to encourage new drinkers to try hard alcohol.
- Information on rock concerts, company-sponsored sporting events, and links to other "cool" sites.
- Funky virtual communities designed around the product brand.
- Chat rooms in the form of virtual bars, graffiti walls and clubs that must be "joined" by completing questionnaires before visitors can participate in the "fun."
- Promotional screensavers that can be downloaded onto home computers.
- E-mail gimmicks that encourage visitors to mail promotional "postcards" to their friends.
- Branded products, clothing and lifestyles.
In considering these techniques, the CME noted:
Individually, some of these techniques do not necessarily indicate an appeal to youth. However, when used in combination – as they usually are – children can be kept at a site for hours and persuaded to return time and again. It is in this way that companies are able to build a long-term relationship with young people. The sites that appear to appeal to youth often strive to create a community of brand-loyal enthusiasts… |
Absolut Web, 1997
Center for Media Education |
In conclusion, the CME recommended that:
- Federal and state agencies act immediately to develop safeguards to shield youth from unfair and deceptive advertising of harmful products.
- Congress hold hearings to investigate online marketing trends.
- Health advocates, scientists and researchers address the threats to public health posed by interactive marketing of alcohol and tobacco products.
- Educators and health professionals develop an Internet-based curriculum to teach children about the dangers of smoking and drinking.
- Alcohol and tobacco companies take responsibility for their online advertising messages, especially those that may appeal to youth.
Despite the publicity surrounding their initial findings in 1997, when the CME conducted its update in 1998, it found alcohol companies as aggressive as ever in marketing their products to teens and college-age drinkers. Out of the 48 sites selected for the update, over three quarters used techniques that would appeal to youth.
Today, hundreds of alcohol sites continue to use the Internet to build brand loyalty and promote drinking as a fun, harmless and desirable activity. In fact, Web sites for alcoholic beverages have become an integral part of many magazine and TV campaigns.
An updated report on online alcohol advertising conducted by the Center on Alcohol Advertising and Youth in fall 2003 found little had changed since 1997. In fact, the report concluded:
From video games to downloadable pictures of young women usually reserved for teenage male fantasies to the interactive toys of today's computer-literate youth such as instant messaging accessories and customized music downloads, alcohol Web sites offered a parade of attractions that appear to have little to do with the quality or taste of the alcohol product but speak loudly to the culture and mores of the Internet user.
Clicking with Kids: Alcohol Marketing and Youth on the Internet, 2003.
Center on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
The Clicking with Kids report also discovered that over a six-month period nearly 700,000 persons under the age of 21 had made "in-depth visits" to alcohol Web sites.
Currently, there is no legislation in either Canada or the United States that prohibits alcohol sites from using techniques on their Web sites that might appeal to underage drinkers.
