Cutting Your Alcohol Intake? Don't Watch Boozy Movies
The researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen, led by Rutger C.M.E. Engels, recruited 40 students and asked each to bring a friend. The laboratory was set up with comfortable sofas and a fridge full of bottles of beer, small bottles of wine and soft drinks. Participants were told they could drink as much as they liked.
They were divided into four groups, who watched the following:
- "American Pie 2" (which contains a lot of drinking), with two commercial breaks full of adverts about alcohol.
- "American Pie 2" with non alcohol-related commercials.
- "40 Days And 40 Nights" (very little alcohol on-screen), with alcohol-based commercials
- "40 Days And 40 Nights" (very little alcohol on-screen), with non alcohol-related commercials
The researchers found a strong corrolation between alcohol drunk and the amount of alcohol on screen: as the BBC news site explains:
Those who watched American Pie and the alcohol adverts drank nearly three bottles of alcohol, compared to 1.5 for those who watched 40 Days and 40 nights and no adverts for alcohol.
The research is published as Alcohol Portrayal on Television Affects Actual Drinking Behaviour in Alcohol and Alcoholism, the official journal of the Medical Council on Alcohol.
The researchers admit that more studying needs to be done (I don't imagine they'll find it hard to recruit volunteers...) as the social impact of having a friend to watch the movie with may also have influenced alcohol intake. They are confident, though, that they have demonstrated "a causal link between exposure to drinking models and alcohol commercials on acute alcohol consumption."
Are you influenced by on-screen drinking? Do commercials featuring alcoholic drinks make you more likely to grab a beer? Do movies that glamorise drinking send you reaching for the corkscrew? Let us know your views and experiences in the comments.
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I think that is really interesting to see that people are so easily influenced without direct marketing. I also think that we should be more concerned with our health in general, not drinking too much and leading healthy lifestyles.
ReplyI don't know about movies, but I do find it really hard to listen to Jimmy Buffet songs on a hot day and not crack open a beer!
ReplyI'd imagine its pretty nailed on without further research. I say that not because of drinking but because of smoking. When watching a movie, whether I had a cigarette 2 hours ago or 2 minutes ago, if a character lights up I immediately feel the need to do the same. Can't explain it, but it sounds pretty similar.
ReplyThis is interesting. Could it be that there is a strong need for most people to fit into any group? When you're watching a movie, you feel as if the images are part of your group, thus encouraging whatever activity they are doing. Just a theory,
Dave
ReplyI beleive it. I *know* that when I watch certain TV shows, and a character has a shot of good scotch. I want one too.
ReplyI kind of agree with Dave's idea. Maybe seeing people drinking on-screen is very close to seeing people in real life drinking with you, so you want to join in. Plus, in those ads and in movies, the drinkers are generally having a grand old time...maybe people feel like they'll start having a better time once they start drinking, too.
ReplyPersonally, I don't really experience that urge- maybe because I don't view films in places I would drink?
ReplyHowever, whenever I watch a noir or early french film I always get the urge for a cigarette.
I'm really not a fan of the whole alcohol/smoking censorship in films, though.. it just reminds me of HUAC.
The scientific research is very interesting because it makes a lot of sense. Films and other forms of media that promotes alcoholism, will surely influence people in drinking. If the time comes these people are going to be hooked into addiction, then an alcohol intervention is going to be the answer for them.
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