Alcohol advertising in disguise: Exposure to zero-alcohol products prompts adolescents to think of alcohol—Reaction time experimental study

IF 4.4 2区医学 Q1 SUBSTANCE ABUSE

International Journal of Drug Policy Pub Date : 2025-03-24 DOI:10.1016/j.drugpo.2025.104753

Ashlea Bartram , Murthy Mittinty , Md Abdul Ahad , Svetlana Bogomolova , Joanne Dono , Aimee L. Brownbill , Nathan J. Harrison , Jacqui Garcia , Ivana Glavinic , Mia May , Jacqueline Bowden

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Zero-alcohol drinks (<0.5 % alcohol by volume) appear and taste like alcoholic drinks; they may feature brands from alcoholic drinks (“brand extensions”) or “new-to-world” brands. These drinks are not consistently included within many restrictions aimed at reducing adolescents’ exposure to alcohol products and advertising. This online study examined whether adolescents implicitly categorise images of zero-alcohol drinks as alcoholic beverages.

Methods

331 Australian adolescents aged 15–17 years participated in an online within-subjects reaction time experiment. Participants viewed 20 randomly-ordered images of alcohol, zero-alcohol, and soft drink products and were asked to indicate as quickly as possible whether these images made them think of alcohol, with both response time and agreement recorded. Generalised linear mixed effects models were used to examine differences in response time and agreement by drink type, adjusting for clustering of responses within participants, recent consumption, survey device (mobile/computer), and parental presence.

Results

Most images of alcoholic (94.4 %), brand extension zero-alcohol (90.7 %), and “new-to-world” zero-alcohol (85.6 %) drinks prompted participants to think of alcohol, compared to 5.2 % of soft drinks. In the mixed effects model, compared to alcoholic drinks, participants on average responded 72 ms slower to brand extension zero-alcohol drinks and 215 ms slower to “new-to-world” brand zero-alcohol drinks.

Conclusions

The combination of high levels of agreement and slower reaction times suggest that adolescents categorise zero-alcohol drinks as non-typical alcoholic drinks, rather than soft drinks. Thus, exposure to zero-alcohol drinks had similar effects to exposure to alcoholic drinks. Urgent regulatory action is required to ensure that restrictions on alcohol advertising and availability to minors extend to zero-alcohol drinks.

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伪装的酒精广告：接触零酒精产品会促使青少年想到酒精——反应时间实验研究

零酒精饮料（按体积计酒精含量为0.5%）看起来和尝起来都像酒精饮料；它们可能会以酒精饮料品牌（“品牌延伸”）或“新品牌”为特色。许多旨在减少青少年接触酒精产品和广告的限制措施并未始终包括这些饮料。这项在线研究调查了青少年是否会隐性地将零酒精饮料的图像归类为酒精饮料。方法对331名15 ~ 17岁的澳大利亚青少年进行在线被试反应时间实验。参与者观看了20张随机排序的酒精、零酒精和软饮料产品的图片，并被要求尽快指出这些图片是否让他们想到了酒精，同时记录了反应时间和同意程度。使用广义线性混合效应模型来检查不同饮料类型在反应时间和一致性方面的差异，调整参与者、最近消费、调查设备（移动/计算机）和父母在场的反应聚类。结果大多数酒精饮料（94.4%）、品牌延伸零酒精饮料（90.7%）和“新世界”零酒精饮料（85.6%）的图像促使参与者想到酒精，而软饮料的这一比例为5.2%。在混合效应模型中，与酒精饮料相比，参与者对品牌延伸零酒精饮料的平均反应慢72毫秒，对“新世界”品牌零酒精饮料的平均反应慢215毫秒。结论：高水平的一致性和较慢的反应时间表明，青少年将零酒精饮料归类为非典型的酒精饮料，而不是软饮料。因此，接触无酒精饮料与接触含酒精饮料具有相似的效果。需要采取紧急监管行动，确保对酒类广告和向未成年人提供的限制扩大到零酒精饮料。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Drug Policy SUBSTANCE ABUSE-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

11.40%

发文量

307

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Drug Policy provides a forum for the dissemination of current research, reviews, debate, and critical analysis on drug use and drug policy in a global context. It seeks to publish material on the social, political, legal, and health contexts of psychoactive substance use, both licit and illicit. The journal is particularly concerned to explore the effects of drug policy and practice on drug-using behaviour and its health and social consequences. It is the policy of the journal to represent a wide range of material on drug-related matters from around the world.