ANOTHER ROUND FOR THE BREWERS - TELEVISION ADS AND CHILDRENS ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES

In an experimental study of how beer commercials affect alcohol expect ancies, 92 fifth graders watched 40 television ads that included eithe r five beer commercials, five soft-drink commercials, or five beer com mercials plus two antidrinking messages. Afterwards, as an unrelated t ask, they completed the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent Fo rm (AEQ-A; Christiansen, Goldman, & Inn, 1982). Exposure to different commercials produced no differences in drinking expectancies. The expe riment was repeated on 74 eighth graders with similar null results; ho wever, eighth-grade girls more strongly believed (p < .02) that alcoho l leads to deteriorated cognitive and behavioral function. In a compar ison of fifth and eighth graders from the same school, eighth graders had significantly more positive scores on three AEQ-A scales that tapp ed social/emotional expectancies. The failure of beer commercials to c reate positive alcohol expectancies is consistent with limited and nul l findings of previous investigations. Research to date does not suppo rt a ban on alcohol advertising.