A recent study performed by researchers at several universities including UCLA and Johns Hopkins has found a frightening new correlation between alcohol advertising and target demographics which could only be assumed to be young viewers… and thus potential underage drinkers.

By using advertising industry data from Nielsen Media Research, researchers examined more than 608,000 national cable alcohol ads aired between the years 2001 and 2006. These ads, fortunately, were aired primarily before audiences with fewer than 30 percent between the ages of 12 and 20. However, there were few of the funny coincidences, as noted by a story featured at the Fox News website:

• For every one-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership, there was a corresponding 7% increase in beer ads, a 15% increase in spirits ads, and a 22% increase in “alcopop” ads

• In the instance of alcopops, ad incidence “was strongly associated with adolescent girl viewership”. Also, each one-point increase in the percentage of female adolescent audience was associated with increases in alcopop ads by as much as 5%.

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Recent legislation has introduced tough new anti-smoking laws in the U.S., which now give the federal government sweeping power over how cigarettes are made, packaged, and sold. Recently, President Barack Obama commented that, “Along with legislation to protect credit card owners from unfair rate hikes, homeowners from mortgage fraud and abuse, and taxpayers from wasteful defense spending, this kids tobacco bill would be the fourth piece of bipartisan legislation that I’ve signed into law over the last month that protects the American consumer and changes the way Washington works and who Washington works for.”

Cigarettes displayed for sale

“It will force these companies to more clearly and publicly acknowledge the harmful and deadly effects of the products they sell,” said the president, “and it will allow the scientists at the Food and Drug Administration to take other common sense steps to reduce the harmful effects of smoking.” The intention here, I believe, is honest and good. Also, I think that we members of the cultured alcohol elite would all agree that keeping potentially harmful products like cigarettes away from minors, much like preventing underage drinking, is of great merit without question. Still, the notion that the tobacco industry is being handed over to the FDA to be regulated doesn’t sit well, since it evokes the beginnings of something we already know is inherently flawed: Prohibition.

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You may be an alcoholic if you talk to your beer... but what happens if it talks back? Creepy...

FOR YEARS, studies have claimed that the black cream of the Greenwood, Guinness stout, can actually be beneficial to one’s health. Researchers have found that antioxidant compounds in Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for health benefits that include strengthening the heart because of the way they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.

Along these lines, you may be familiar with some of the artwork from the 1920s Guinness ad campaigns, in which colorful (sometimes rather odd) themes were used based on findings from market research. Perhaps most famous of all these was how people often told Guinness employees that they “felt good” after downing a pint (come on, who wouldn’t), thus birthing the popular slogan “Guinness is Good for You”. Later, Guinness was told to stop using the slogan, and since that time Diageo, the company that now manufactures Guinness, still will make no official health claims for the drink.

However, back in 2003 BBC News reported that a study performed around the time found a Guinness pint per day “may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.” Apparently, drinking lager beers does not yield all the same benefits, according to experts from the University of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin team tested the health-related benefits of stouts against lagers administering the brews to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease (lucky dogs… no pun intended. This could hardly constitute poor treatment of animals in lab tests, eh?).

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It’s Friday… and many Americans will be going out to enjoy a few beverages this evening. Of this massive number of socialites who will be hitting the bars, at least a good portion of them may be hitting the floor also… that’s right, not everyone can be convinced that excess isn’t always best! This being the case, the unpleasant after effects of drinking too much can rear their ugly heads in the form of a hangover.

A hangover (the technical name for which is veisalgia) is the combination of ailments that follow the heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. Most commonly reported characteristics of hangovers include nausea, headaches, sensitivity to light and noise, thirst resulting from dehydration, and even mood swings that often favor sadness and displeasure. No doubt, since man first discovered spirits and their uplifting, intoxicating effects, he has similarly sought to find a remedy for the unpleasant mornings that follow any such evening of drunken euphoria.

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Let’s face it; nearly everyone I know is a health-freak these days (myself included). Granted, this mentality from time-to-time does seem to gravitate toward and hover around particular areas of the US (and the world, for that matter). Still, no matter where you go, what seems to clench the deal is seeing fast food restaurants like McDonalds and Taco Bell making renewed efforts to provide healthier alternatives to the time-tested standards on their menus; from the inclusion of whole-wheat buns with Premium Chicken sandwiches, to Taco Bell’s “Fresco” menu, which offers low-cal alternatives to items on the regular menu, available upon request.

It isn’t surprising, therefore, that the alcohol industry poses no exception to the trend toward lower caloric intake, organic components, and even environmentally “green” standards. Beverage World recently reported that sales of premium spirits are up 92 percent in the last year, in spite of the downward trends seen in the American economy. Similarly, USA Today points out that demand for organic spirits, especially in conjunction with drinks mixed using organic fruit juices and other natural flavoring, also appears to be on the rise.  (more…)