Associations Between Thematic Content and Industry Self-Regulation Code Violations in Beer Advertising Broadcast During the U.S. NCAA Basketball Tournament.
Beer marketing in the United States is controlled through self-regulation, whereby the beer industry has created a marketing code and enforces its use. We performed a thematic content analysis on beer ads broadcast during a U.S. college athletic event and determined which themes are associated with violations of a self-regulated alcohol marketing code.



289 beer ads broadcast during the U.S. NCAA Men's and Women's 1999-2008 basketball tournaments were assessed for the presence of 23 thematic content areas. Associations between themes and violations of the U.S. Beer Institute's Marketing and Advertising Code were determined using generalized linear models.



Humor (61.3%), taste (61.0%), masculinity (49.2%), and enjoyment (36.5%) were the most prevalent content areas. Nine content areas (i.e., conformity, ethnicity, sensation seeking, sociability, romance, special occasions, text responsibility messages, tradition, and individuality) were positively associated with code violations (p < 0.001-0.042). There were significantly more content areas positively associated with code violations than content areas negatively associated with code violations (p < 0.001).



Several thematic content areas were positively associated with code violations. The results can inform existing efforts to revise self-regulated alcohol marketing codes to ensure better protection of vulnerable populations. The use of several themes is concerning in relation to adolescent alcohol use and health disparities.
a Community Medicine and Health Care , University of Connecticut School of Medicine , Farmington , Connecticut , USA.
Jonathan K
JK
Noel
b Community Health Sciences , Boston University School of Public Health , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
Ziming
Z
Xuan
a Community Medicine and Health Care , University of Connecticut School of Medicine , Farmington , Connecticut , USA.
Thomas F
TF
Babor
D000329:Advertising; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D001490:Basketball; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing; D000066608:Underage Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States
Alcohol; adolescents; advertising; marketing; self-regulation