They’re kidding right? The companies can’t possibly trying to tempt young people by  using images of young adults having a lot of fun and they just all happen to be holding on to a glass or bottle filled with alcohol. (Sarcasm doesn’t translate well to the Internet, does it?)

Researchers decided to do a study about magazine ads and teens to determine if the Wine Institute, the Beer Institute, and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States were being truthful with their claims of not targeting young people with their advertising. What they found was this was not true. The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

After comparing 118 print ads,

The researchers found that in magazines with the highest levels of youth readership, youth alcoholic beverage types (e.g., premium beer, low calorie beer, rum, vodka, and flavored alcohol beverages) were more than four times more likely to be advertised than non-youth types (e.g., gin, brandy, whiskey, and scotch). As youth readership increased in a magazine, so did the number of youth alcoholic beverage advertisements.

Despite the claims of the institutes, 42.9% of ads for drinks that appeal to youth were placed in magazines popular with that age group. Only 23.1% of alcohol ads were for drinks that aren’t usually associated with youth.

Underage drinking is something that can cause serious problems, from accidents to binge drinking to alcoholism, so it is a serious issue. However, the “duh” factor was in the finding. It’s very obvious to anyone who the target market is for those younger-style alcoholic beverages – and it’s not grannie.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

A common theme of addiction recovery counseling is the idea that you should avoid situations that trigger cravings. But that’s not always so easy. So therapists have often use role-playing techniques to help people discover the their best method of avoidance.

Now Patrick Bordnick, a University of Houston researcher, has taken this one step further and has been creating virtual reality scenarios designed to prepare alcoholics for situations that could trigger drinking.

He enlisted 40 alcohol dependent participants to test the effectiveness of this virtual world therapy. Putting on virtual reality headsets, the participants entered into a number of tempting environments such a kitchen filled with various forms of alcohol and a party in a small apartment.

They then had to move around the various rooms and rate their desire to drink. The study, by the way, was not only visual but also ofactory. In other words, if you walked past a glass of beer, you smelt the beer.

Borndnick believes that if we are able to have a therapist counsel and teach the alcoholic while he is in this virtual world surrounded by alcohol, then they will have a much stronger foundation to help them avoid temptation in the real world.

The results of Bordnick’s study will be published in the June 2008 issue of Addictive Behaviors.

(source)

Post from: Healthbolt