Though they don’t use techniques like Joe Camel cartoons, alcohol advertisers routinely target young adults and underage adolescents, a recent WSU study has found.

Researchers analyzed six months of beverage advertising in magazines and on television, and found that one in six magazine ads and one in 14 television ads target teenagers. The findings were published in December in the Journal of Health Communication.

“There are a lot of ads targeting young, very young kids,” said Erica Austin, a WSU communication professor and lead author of the journal article.

Austin and her researchers saw similarities among soda and alcohol ads in using themes of humor, relaxation and outdoor adventure to sell products, Austin said. Much soda advertising explicitly targets teenagers and children.

“The fact that they’re similar indicates that they’re targeting people of the same age,” said Stacey Hust, a communication assistant professor and co-author of the article.

Captain Morgan advertisements used a “childish” activity – drawing mustaches on people – which appeals to adolescents, Austin said. Budweiser regularly used humor and camaraderie. One Jack Daniels ad featured a puppy.

However, many alcohol ads employ the additional tactic of sex appeal. Though young children don’t generally pick up on themes of sex, adolescents notice the ads just at the time they’re becoming more aware of a new sexual world, Austin said.

“There’s a smooth transition from a child-oriented appeal to an adolescent-oriented appeal,” she said, “because everything’s the same except, ooh, there’s sex.” Sex was just one motif for which researchers looked. They analyzed four major TV networks and the most popular magazines for ages 12 to 20. Half the alcohol magazine ads they found were in Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and Playboy, magazines Austin described as promoting “risky behavior.” The researchers also looked for moderation messages, such as the commonly-used “Please drink responsibly” memorandum. Most they found were under-emphasized or in small print.

The majority of alcohol ads featured themes of male dominance, Austin said. Gender stereotyping was common.

Austin is concerned advertisers are not acting responsibly. Children tend to learn more about alcohol from the media than anyone else, she said.

“Essentially these messages are about ‘have fun and be stupid,’ ” Austin said. “They just need a more well-balanced message.” Coupling alcohol advertisements to sports- and sex-themed media relates drinking with risky behavior, Hust said. Associating alcohol with fun and sex encourages underage drinking, and promotes all as risk-free activities. Social situations depicted in alcohol advertisements are not realistic, Hust said.

The ads promise all the good without the bad.

“Underage drinking continues to be one of our major social problems,” said Tom Brigham, a psychology professor and an executive assistant to the WSU president.

It’s a hot topic at WSU. College culture supports behavior typically considered inappropriate, Brigham said, and it may be indirectly fueled by advertisements that encourage irresponsible drinking.

However, between 2002 and 2004, alcohol arrests on campus dropped by more than 50 percent, according to WSU Police statistics.

Hust has also noticed a recent promising trend. Several alcohol companies now run advertisements that focus on responsible drinking and designated driving, she said. Such “moderation messages” suggest alcohol advertisers are taking on more social responsibility.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” she said. “But we have a long way to go.”