Alcohol on YouTube: What Are Kids Viewing?
New research appearing in the latest volume of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs examines YouTube videos that reference alcohol brands, and which are popular among underage audiences. Together, the videos analysed received just shy of 97 million views.
The study found that the most popular type of video (40%) can be characterised as ‘traditional advertisements’. 20% were ‘guides’ and 10% depicted a person/people chugging a bottle of spirits. 95% focused on males, compared to 40% that showed females. 19% featured drunkenness, while 2%, 3% and 4% contained examples of aggressive behaviour, addiction and injury, respectively.
It was found only to be music videos that depicted addiction.
Bud Light was by far the most common (83%) alcohol brand referenced. Grey Goose scored 18% and Hennessy 8%.
The authors suggest that a better understanding of the characteristics associated with different alcohol brands and video categories may benefit the development of alcohol intervention initiatives.
