How young viewers respond to televised drinking and driving messages

A message response testing study was conducted with several hundred teenagers and young adults to explore perceptions and evaluation of television spots on responsible drinking and drunk driving. Nine ads presented by beer companies were compared to nine non-industry public service announcements (PSAs). The brewer-sponsored spots tend to produce dual responses among young viewers. On one hand, many regard these ads as promoting beer consumption; others interpret the campaign slogans as permitting liberal consumption amounts, even in risky situations. Most young viewers detect commercial and public relations elements in these campaigns, and they rate the informative and motivational qualities of the prevention appeals as mediocre. The industry spots receive less positive ratings and are judged to be less effective than conventional PSAs. At the same time, viewers feel there is a genuine prevention-oriented purpose and that the spots offer sensible advice that is mildly influential in fostering responsible drinking. These favorable aspects of their evaluations apparently contribute to the positive images and attitude change toward the corporate sponsors, and suggest that a limited prosocial impact may result from exposure to the ads.