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Alcoholic beverage companies made billions of dollars from underage drinking, study finds

2021-06-12T16:16:15.844Z


An estimated $ 17.5 billion in U.S. beer and spirits sales in 2016 were consumed by minors, according to new research.


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(CNN) -

An estimated $ 17.5 billion in beer and spirits sales were consumed by minors in the United States in 2016. Of those, the products of three companies, AB InBev, Molson Coors Beverage Co., and Diageo, account for nearly 45% of the consumption of young minors, according to a new study.

"There hasn't been a study of this kind in about 20 years and it shows that the alcohol industry is making billions of dollars from selling alcohol to minors," said study author Pamela Trangenstein, an assistant professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

The study, published Thursday in the Journal of Alcohol and Drug Studies, used national data on alcohol use among adults and minors from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others. sources.

The researchers compared those figures to industry sales in 2016, which they said were the most recent data available, and adjusted for insufficient information.

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"It's really shocking that underage drinkers generate $ 17 billion in alcohol sales through 2016," said nutrition researcher Marion Nestlé, visiting professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and author of numerous books on alcohol policy. the food and beverage industry.

"If we ever need a reason to toughen alcohol policies, this study provides it," said Nestlé, who was not involved in the study.

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“The industry is not interested in moderating the use of minors in any way;

that's where your future earnings are, ”said Paul Gruenewald, scientific director of the Prevention Research Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, who was also not involved in the study.

"Demand is ensured by getting young people to start drinking as early as possible in their lives, providing a constant demand throughout their lives," said Gruenewald, who has researched the availability of alcohol since the late 1980s.

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Underage access to alcohol remains a problem

The study, which was sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), also examined underage drinking habits in 2011. The analysis showed a decrease in 2011 to 2016: minors consumed 11.7% of the standard alcoholic beverages sold, in 2011, compared to 8.6% in 2016. In the US, a standard drink is approximately 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of pure alcohol, which differs depending on the type of adult beverage consumed.

The study found that revenues from sales of alcoholic beverages consumed by minors also fell, from 10% of total sales (US $ 208,000 million), in 2011, to 7.4% of total sales (US $ 237,000 million), in 2016, or a drop from $ 20.9 billion to $ 17.5 billion.

Regardless of the decline, "underage drinking remains a major public health problem," said Mona Shah, Senior Programs Officer in the Research, Assessment and Learning Unit at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has invested nearly US $ 700 million over 20 years in US alcohol and substance abuse prevention efforts.

"Heavy drinking and drinking are still common among junior high school students and college students," said Shah, who was not involved in the study.

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Trangenstein pointed to 2019 figures from the NIAAA showing that 7 million young people, ages 12 to 20, said they drank alcohol in the past month, while 4.2 million reported binge drinking.

"Both numbers should be zero," he said.

Despite decades of trying to combat teens' access to alcohol, too many young people are escaping the cracks of law enforcement, experts say.

"It is widely known and recognized throughout the alcohol research community that underage youth can, directly or indirectly, through others, shop at retail stores," Gruenewald said.

"A commonly cited situation, for example, is that underage youth can successfully purchase alcoholic beverages through outlets, such as supermarkets and convenience stores, about 30% of the time," he added.

The consequences are significant, experts say.

Each year, drinking is linked to more than 3,500 deaths and 210,000 years of potential life lost among people under the age of 21, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .

Alcohol intoxication, physical and sexual violence, and an increased risk of suicide and homicide among young people are also linked to alcohol abuse, and adolescents can experience changes in brain development that can have lifelong effects, according to the CDC.

"Young people who started drinking before the age of 15 are at four times the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder, with all the health risks and impacts that come with that," Trangenstein said.

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Most sales to minors in some companies

AB InBev, or Anheuser-Busch InBev, is by far the largest in the industry, selling more than 500 brands and "countless" varieties of beer, according to its website.

The study found that more than 21% of the beverages consumed by minors in 2016 were made by AB InBev, with an estimated US $ 2.2 billion in sales revenue.

Molson Coors, which was called MillerCoors until 2019, and is cited as MillerCoors in the study, produces 113 beers and hard ciders and earned 12.3% of the minors market share in 2016. That's roughly $ 1.1 billion in sales revenue, according to the study.

Diageo sells more than 200 brands of liquor and Guinness Irish beer.

The study found that Diageo accounted for 11.1% of the underage alcohol market share in 2016, with an estimated $ 2 billion in sales revenue.

Together, the products of these three companies accounted for about 45% of underage alcohol consumption in 2016, according to the study.

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The remainder of the market for minors was distributed primarily among seven additional companies, but the market share of each was dramatically lower than that of the top three brands, the study found.

For example, the company with the fourth largest market share was $ 592 million, not billions, ”Trangenstein said.

CNN reached out to Molson Coors, AB InBev and Diageo for comment.

Molson Coors and AB InBev addressed the request to the Beer Institute, a trade organization, which responded by pointing to the many preventative efforts sponsored by the industry.

"For example, since 1982, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesale partners have committed more than $ 1 billion in national ad campaigns and community programs to encourage responsible drinking and prevent underage drinking and drunk driving," he said. CNN a spokesperson for the Beer Institute.

The spokesperson also pointed to the actions of Molson Coors, which recently became "the first major brewing company to support the TruAge age verification system provided to all commercial channels by the National Association of Convenience Stores."

A Diageo spokesperson also pointed to community prevention efforts the company sponsors in the United States, such as the "Ask, Listen, Learn" and "We Don't Serve Teens" educational programs.

“We only want the business of consumers who are of legal drinking age.

We comply with America's drinking age laws and the industry's code of responsible practice, "said the Diageo spokesperson.

To do?

Solving the problem of underage drinking will require a concerted effort by everyone involved: parents, alcohol producers, distributors and point-of-sale retailers, and local, state and federal governments, experts say.

"Higher minimum legal drinking ages, higher taxes on beverages, reductions in the number and types of establishments that sell alcohol, restrictions on days and hours of sale, and a host of other social steps work," Gruenewald said.

"Unfortunately, the US states do not choose these paths, but the paths are there."

Parents should be responsible by modeling sensible alcohol use and limiting access in the home, which is "a primary source of alcohol for underage drinkers," Gruenewald said.

“No, never organize parties for minors where alcohol is served.

That encourages early onset, the problem of use and its consequences, "he emphasized.

A 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that more than 90% of underage drinkers do not buy their own alcohol, according to Lisa Hawkins, senior vice president of Public Affairs for the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group of the industry.

"Rather, they get their alcohol from their parents and other legal-age adults," Hawkins said.

"So, if anything, this survey reflects the brand choices of adults of legal purchasing age."

Attention in advertising

Advertising by alcohol companies also needs to be closely monitored to make sure they are following current laws on limiting teen exposure to ads promoting alcohol, Trangenstein said.

Studies have found that "young people with higher exposure to alcohol marketing seem more likely to start drinking later if they have not drunk previously, and to engage in binge drinking and dangerous beverages if they have drunk previously," he said.

The Beer Institute told CNN that its members must adhere to its advertising and marketing code, "to ensure that beer marketing and advertising materials are intended for adult consumers of legal drinking age."

But today's teens have access to different forms of media, and at levels never seen in the past, said Shah of the Johnson Foundation, and it's hard to make sure they're not exposed to alcohol ads.

«Social networks are constantly evolving: Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok.

We need to ensure that policies are updated to ensure that children who use social media are not exposed to advertising for alcoholic beverages.

The alcohol industry should be involved in that, ”Shah said.

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An effective education is needed

The educational strategies funded by many alcohol organizations "are not among the most effective," Trangenstein said, "probably because they are based on outdated science, such as social norms.

Numerous studies show that these approaches serve to reformulate, first and foremost, alcohol-related issues according to the interests of the industry. "

He pointed to the World Health Organization's SAFER initiative, which he said uses cost-effective and well-researched methods, as an example of a program that has been shown to have effective long-term results.

"If alcoholic beverage companies want to demonstrate their commitment to meaningful prevention, they could commit to dedicating 0.5% of their gross revenue to an independent fund controlled by prevention experts," said Trangenstein.

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17 years ago, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine recommended donating half of the proceeds to be used for the prevention of underage drinking, but the idea was never implemented by the alcohol industry, he said.

"We need to have some mechanism to put these funds into a separate and independent fund where we can do what works to delay young people from starting drinking during adolescence," Trangenstein said.

"It is not about blaming, it is about doing the right thing," he added.

"This study is about the disconnect between large corporations that are making substantial profits from youth risky behaviors and how we can correct that mistake."

Underage alcoholic beverages

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-06-12

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