On the (in)effectiveness of textual disclosures on expectancies, attitudes, and perceived appropriateness of alcohol.

Abstract

Objective: Drinking alcohol is frequently portrayed in the media, often overemphasizing its positive attributes. In particular, hip-hop music videos regularly depict alcohol consumption. Building on social cognitive theory, we conduct three pre-registered experimental studies to examine whether textual disclosures from different sources and with varying degrees of explicitness about the consequences of alcohol consumption can influence viewers' alcohol expectancies, attitudes toward alcohol, and the appropriateness of alcohol presentations following a hip-hop video depicting alcohol consumption.

Methods and measures: We test 1) the established YouTube product placement disclosure, 2) a disclosure that explicitly refers to alcohol and a disclosure that additionally refers to the harmful consequences of alcohol consumption, 3) and finally the role of user comments on YouTube that discuss the negative or positive consequences of alcohol.

Results: We found that none of the disclosures tested were able to reduce positive attitudes toward alcohol, positive drinking expectancies, or perceived appropriateness of alcohol portrayals. Instead, one's own drinking behavior was most important in explaining these dependent variables, with frequent drinkers reporting higher scores on attitudes toward alcohol, positive drinking expectancies, and a positive evaluation of alcohol portrayals in the media compared to people who never or rarely drink.

Conclusions: Our findings across the three studies paint a picture of the ineffectiveness of various forms of textual disclosure on alcohol-related attitudes, expectancies, and ratings of the appropriateness of alcohol portrayals in the media. Alternative steps forward, i.e., the creation of offerings for content creators that encourage them to consider the consequences of their representations, are therefore needed.