Another Round for the Brewers: Television Ads and Children's Alcohol Expectancies¹

In an experimental study of how beer commercials affect alcohol expectancies, 92 fifth graders watched 40 television ads that included either five beer commercials, five soft‐drink commercials, or five beer commercials plus two antidrinking messages. Afterwards, as an unrelated task, they completed the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire‐Adolescent Form (AEQ‐A; Christiansen, Goldman, & Inn, 1982). Exposure to different commercials produced no differences in drinking expectancies. The experiment was repeated on 74 eighth graders with similar null results; however, eighth‐grade girls more strongly believed (p <.02) that alcohol leads to deteriorated cognitive and behavioral function. In a comparison of fifth and eighth graders from the same school, eighth graders had significantly more positive scores on three AEQ‐A scales that tapped social/emotional expectancies. The failure of beer commercials to create positive alcohol expectancies is consistent with limited and null findings of previous investigations. Research to date does not support a ban on alcohol advertising.