Young People And Alcohol Advertising: A Study To Assess The Impact Of Regulatory Change

This report contains findings from a benchmark wave of quantitative and qualitative research among young people across the UK in 2005 on behalf of Ofcom and the ASA. The study has been designed to assess the impact of regulatory changes in alcohol advertising rules aimed at reducing the appeal of some alcohol advertising to young people under the age of 18 years.

This first phase of research focuses on the appeal of a selection of alcohol advertisements that aired pre-regulatory change to respondents aged 11-21 years. The results of this part of the research will provide the ASA/Ofcom with a benchmark against which the results of a follow-on, post regulatory change study can be compared in about two years time.

Technical Details

MORI conducted both qualitative and quantitative research during the first half of 2005.

Qualitative phase: this involved 16 group discussions with teenagers and young adults aged between 11 and 21 years. The research groups were held across the UK in a mixture of urban, deprived and rural locations. Quotas were set according to age, gender, school/employment status and location. Participants were also recruited according to their own evaluation of their drinking behaviour.

Quantitative phase: interviews were conducted among a representative sample of 1,539 young people aged 11-21 years, face-to-face, at home between 18 April and 12 June 2005.

The full report, Young People and Alcohol Advertising, is available on the Advertising Standards Authority website (pdf, 590K).