A CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF ALCOHOL PORTRAYAL AND DRINKING IN BRITISH TELEVISION SOAP-OPERA

This study examined the portrayal of alcohol consumption in a sample o f six soap operas on British television. In all, 86% contained visual or verbal references to alcoholic beverages with an average of one ref erence in every 3.5 min of programming. Over all of the 25 programmes monitored, more alcohol was consumed than soft drinks, at a ratio of 2 .1:1, and there were hardly any references to the hazards of alcohol c onsumption. In contrast to previous similar studies, alcohol was found to be most prominently featured in Emmerdale Farm and hardly ever app eared in Home and Away. Also, four of the major soaps regularly showed specific brands of alcohol, in particular Eastenders. Finally, despit e the observations in previous studies by others that the presentation of alcohol on television is decreasing, in comparison to three studie s done in the last 10 Sears, alcohol portrayal appeared to be, if anyt hing, on the increase, although problems associated with these compari sons render the results in need of replication. The quality of data yi elded in many of these analyses, along with poor base-rate data, make it difficult to establish the evidence of reliable trends, though prel iminary analyses were done comparing two earlier studies with data obt ained in this one. However, recommendations for further studies have b een made.