Australian Researchers have expressed their concern about the promotion of alcohol products to young people using social network platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. The study is published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.
The concerns were raised after researchers from the University of Western Sydney tracked the tweets of various global alcohol brands over a period of 6 months. Researchers discovered that the original tweets sent out by these brands were then re-tweeted to larger audiences, increasing the risk of it being seen by minors.
Researchers are also concerned that the use of hash-tags was increasing the risk by linking the alcohol promotions to popular social events.
The following excerpt explains:
Australian researchers say alcohol brands are using Twitter to promote their products to a young and potentially underage audience.
A research team from the University of Western Sydney tracked the tweets of various global alcohol brands – including Corona, Heineken, Smirnoff and Jack Daniels – for six months.
It found their initial tweets were often re-tweeted to a much larger audience which increased the risk of them being seen by users aged under 18.
It also found the use of hashtags increased the audience by attaching the alcohol promotions to popular social events such as concerts.
The article went on to quote one of the authors of the study who said that she believes tougher restrictions should be implemented for alcohol promotion. Twitter has been a particularly useful and beneficial platform for these alcohol brands to promote their products and because it is relatively new, we may have initial problems with regulation. The researchers found the promotion of some brands more problematic than others, such as Budweiser.
The co-author of the study, Dr Ann Dadich said that greater regulation needs to be instated for alcohol promotions, she went on to explain,
“There’s quite a large young demographic that is using Twitter, a number of people may be thinking, ‘well it’s too difficult to manage this’,” she said.
“Twitter is a relatively new platform for companies, and what we found is that it seems to be quite an efficient way to promote their wares.
“In addition to their direct audience, they’re obviously getting that secondary audience as well.”
According to researchers who pinpointed Budweiser’s social media promotions as particularly threatening mentioned that during the 6 month study, the company sent 286 tweets to its followers- numbering more than 15,000. Their tweets were then re-tweeted 13,523 times.
There have been numerous calls for more regulation of this type of alcohol promotion including one from the executive officer of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, Sam Biondo who has called for the loophole to be addressed. The post went on to explain:
“You’ve got to question how we’ve allowed things to get to the point it has,” he said.
“And we really do need to have a community debate, governments need to look at these issues, because it’s really, it is having an impact.