Estimated televised alcohol advertising exposure in the past year and associations with past 30-day drinking behavior among American adults: results from a secondary analysis of large-scale advertising and survey data

Aims To estimate the volume of past-year televised alcohol advertising exposure by product category and demographic group among adults living in the United States and test associations between estimated alcohol advertising exposure and past 30-day drinking behavior. Design Secondary analysis of data from two national-level US data sets: Kantar data on appearances of televised alcohol advertisements and data from the Simmons National Consumer Survey (NCS), a large national mail survey on television viewing patterns and consumer behavior. Setting United States. Participants A total of 54 671 adults, aged 21 years and older, who were randomly selected to participate in the Simmons NCS. Measurements Estimated exposure to televised advertisements for beer, wine and spirits, self-reported alcohol use in the past year and number of drinks consumed in the past 30 days. Findings The average respondent was exposed to an estimated 576 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 570-582] televised alcohol advertisements in the year preceding their survey. Exposure was higher among males versus females and African Americans versus whites. A 1% increase in the estimated volume of advertisement exposure was associated with a 0.11 (95% CI = 0.08-0.13) percentage point increase in the odds of having at least one drink in the last 30 days and, among past 30-day drinkers, a 0.05 (95% CI = 0.04-0.07) per cent increase in the number of alcoholic drinks consumed. Associations were consistent across product categories and demographics. Conclusions There appears to be a small but consistent positive association between alcohol advertising exposure and drinking behavior among American adults.