The impact of advertisements on adolescents’ decision to consume beer

The case of selected high school students in Shashemene town, West Arsi zone

Abstract

Introduction:  Advertising of alcoholic beverages is a potential public health issue if it can be shown that advertising has a direct and material effect on alcohol consumption. A substantial proportion of alcohol advertising reaches an underage audience and is presented in a style that is attractive to youths.

Objective:  To assess the impact of beer advertisements in influencing the decision of selected high school students to drink beer in Shashemene town, West Arsi zone, Ethiopia.

Methods: School based cross-sectional study design was used where the process of data collection was undertaken at a point of time. The study was used a structured questionnaire and distributed to 300 purposively selected boys and girls between 15 and 17 years old. A pilot study was undertaken before the actual data collection processes. Data cleaning, coding, organizing activities were undertaken after data collection. Then, data were entered into SPSS version 20 for further analysis after which both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were utilized for data analysis and presentation. 

Results: Adolescents in the study area are highly (97.3%) exposed to beer advertisements. Beer advertisements have brought both psychological and practical consequences for study participants. This consequence ranges from predisposing respondents to develop favorable attitudes towards beer (18%), influencing them to drink beer (12.7%), increasing their motivation to drink beer for the sake of trying to win lotteries (12%). 

Conclusion: The broadcasting of beer advertisements both on the electronic and social media have brought remarkable impact on adolescents’ alcohol drinking behavior in the study area. Therefore, the danger associated with alcohol marketing practices in Ethiopia calls for effective enforcement of existing relevant legal codes.