Chung-Ang University

Department of Social Welfare

An Exploratory Content Analysis ofBeer Advertisements in Korea
2012. 11. 24

Sulki Chung
Jae-Eun Park
Jae-Kyoung Lee

Introduction
 Why is alcohol advertising regulation necessary?

 Alcohol advertising influences alcohol consumption and harmful drinking
 WHO Reports: Alcohol advertising regulations are shown to be effective
in prevention of harmful drinking
 Alcohol industry is very defensive about regulations

 Legislation vs. Self-Regulation

 Some countries control alcohol advertising by legislation and somecountries rely on self-regulation of the alcohol industry
 Complete regulation: Banning of all alcohol advertising Partial regulation: Regulating advertising in a limited way Self regulation: Alcohol industry voluntarily develop regulation scheme Korea: Partial regulation based on “Public Health Promotion Act& Self-regulation by alcohol industry

 Limits of Korean alcohol advertising policy Unclear and vague criteria
 Does not consider recent development of advertising market
 Regulation of advertising hours are unrealistic
 Ex: TV Advertising is restricted between 10 pm and 6 am toprotect youth  but, many youths watch TV after 10 pm

 Controversy regarding effectiveness of advertising policy Self-Regulation by Alcohol industry

 Designed to target responsibility marketing Alcohol industry actively agree on standards of practice Korea – beginning stage (since 2009) No legal obligation – limitation – no way to penalize if notfollowed Limited research on alcohol advertising in Korea
 Need to build knowledge in alcohol advertising Lack of understanding in alcohol advertising Leads to limitations in active legislation and self regulation ofalcohol advertising Need basic knowledge in order to supplement alcohol
advertising policies
 This is the rationale for our study: content analysis of alcohol
advertising in Korea

Purpose of the research Analyze contents of TV beer advertising Provide knowledge and implications for alcohol
advertising regulation policy

Influence of alcohol advertising Advertising is one of the major environmental
influence on alcohol use and abuse (Snyder et al,2006)
 Alcohol advertising are known to influence alcoholuse (Anderson et al., 2009) The influence is bigger for young people (Gordon, etal., 2010)
 Exposure to alcohol advertising is related to positive
attitude in alcohol use (Hastings et al., 2005)

 Studies of alcohol advertising in Korea are very
limited Limitations of previous studies
 Focused only on printed advertising Did not examine contents other than sexual
connotations
 Not based on reliable measure of contents

Methods:
Sampling and Data collection
 Sampling All Korean Beer advertisements aired between 2008 2011
 Video advertising shown on TV, Cable TV, subway, andinternet

 Data collection
 Each beer industry archive (via homepage) Total of 81 video advertisements were usedContent categories and analysis
 Content categories
 Advertisements were content-analyzed in three areas:
Themes, techniques of presentation, human models

 Themes: message expressed in beer ads
 16 themes were included based on review of literature
on content analysis of alcohol ads
 Three coders assessed the presence or absence of 16
themes portrayed in the ads

16 themes analyzed in beeradvertisements
RewardRelaxation

Reward yourself because you are worth it. You deserve the best.
Drinking after work or play, and change in state with the product.
The suggestion that this product will help you relax.

Success

Success in a competition, at workplace, or special occasion.

Celebration

Personal achievement.

Individuality

Information

Be unique. The product is for those with character, not foreverybody.
Reference to calorie, price, brewing process, or ingredients. Differ
from similar products.

16 themes analyzed in beer
advertisements
Quality

Reference to the quality of the product. Use of subjective andcomplimentary adjectives to explain the product.

SexualReferences suggesting sexual encounter. Discreet, tempting

connotations

motions. Provocative gesture.

Camaraderie

Friendship

Partying with people, a get-together. Alcohol as group-bonding orsocial lubricant.
Share with your close friend. Suggesting that you share theproduct with close friends.

PhysicalPortrayal of models in sports or strenuous activity. Presence ofactivity

sports equipment.

16 themes analyzed in beer
advertisements
Love and romance
Special occasions

Holiday

The words love, or drawing of heart. Symbols of love. Longterm relationship, romance.
Birthday, anniversaries, holidays and celebration of events(aside from achievement).

Look coolIntention to look cool by using the product. Reference to theexpression "cool“.

Impress others

Impress others with _____. Serve the best to impress others.

Hedonism

You only live once. Please yourself.

Humor

Cartoons, jokes. Intention to make you laugh.

Analysis Techniques of presentation

 Settings and activities described in the ad Sound effects, background (location, environment), risky
drinking situations

 Human models

 Coders counted the total number of human models, numberof primary models (models central to the ad, who spoke,
appeared in the foreground for more than ½ of the ad).
 Coders estimated age, gender of primary models
 Use of celebrity models (movie stars, sports stars, etc.)

Intercoder reliability
 Intercoder reliability was assessed using Krippendorff’salpha Krippendorff’s algorithm controls for the degree ofagreement expected by chance More reliable results based on intercoder reliability between
three coders
 Krippendorff’s alpha of 0.70 was used as the criteria forinclusion

Krippendorff’s alpha𝑫ₒα= 𝟏 −𝑫ₑDₒ=1𝑛1≥α≥0Dₑ =1𝑛(𝑛−1)010 𝑂00
1 𝑂01

𝑂01
𝑂11n0n1n0n1n=2N𝑘 𝑂𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝛿²𝑐𝑘𝐶𝐶𝑘 𝑛𝑐 ∙ 𝑛𝑘 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝛿²𝑐𝑘

𝑫ₒ𝑶₀₁
= 𝟏 − (𝒏 − 𝟏)binary α= 𝟏 −
𝑫ₑ
𝑵₀·𝑵₁

Results:
Themes in beer advertisements
Theme

N%

Quality5466.7

Relaxation

36

CamaraderieIntercoder

Intercoder

Theme

N%.91

Impress others

1518.5.71

44.4.81

Physical activity

1316.0.80

33

40.7.71

Look cool1113.6.81

Individuality

3239.5.81

1113.6.93

Information

30

37.0.98

78.6

1.00

Friendship28

34.6.89

Sexualconnotations
Success/Celebration
Special occasions/
Holiday

3

3.7

.90

Love/Romance22

27.2.90

Reward

1

1.2

1.00

Reliability

Reliability

Human Models in beer advertisements
 Analysis of human models giveidea about the audience forwhich the ads were created.
 Gender male female

93.8%
79%

 Number of primary models
 one model
 two models
 three or more

9.9%
19.8%
64.2%

 Age of primary model
 20s
 30s
 40s and over

 Celebrity

68.0%
50.6%
14.8%

81.5%

 Some countries (Italy, Israel)ban celebrities to appear inalcohol advertisingTechniques of presentation
Techniques of presentation

N%

Intercoder Reliability

ScenesDrinking beer

74

91.4

1.00

Finishing the glass or bottle

2227.2

0.84

Food pictured

15

30.9

0.89

Opening the bottle/can38

46.9

0.71

Pouring beer into glass

43

53.1

0.80

Clink glasses or bottles

18

22.2

0.86

Gulping sound

37

45.7

0.95

Sound effects

Techniques of presentation
Techniques of presentation

N%

Intercoder Reliability

PlaceClub

15

18.5

0.86

Restaurant

33.70.74

Bar

1721.00.85

Home911.10.95

Public outdoors (park, etc.)

2429.6

0.78

Workplace

44.9

0.86

89.9

1.00

Drinking in hazardous situation

Discussion
Summary of results
 Themes: beer ads emphasize subjective quality, relaxation,
camaraderie → only positive images drinking
 Human models: young people (20s, 30s), Celebrities (82%), group(3 and more) → big impact on youths

 Techniques of presentation: drinking scene, stimulating soundeffects, presentation of dangerous drinking situations

Policy Suggestions

 Regulate advertisements that encourage biased images
 Regulate advertisements that show drinking in action
 Regulate celebrities appearing in advertising (young celebrities, sportsstars) that encourage youth drinking

Conclusion Provides information for alcohol advertising control policies
 Contributes to prevention of risky drinking and promotion ofmoderate drinking

 Limitations
 Limited to beer advertising – did not include all means ofadvertising and drink types.
 Future studies need to expand its scope to examine alcohol ads invariety of forms.

References Anderson, P., De Bruijn, A., Angus, K., Gordon, R., & Hastings, G. (2009). Impactof alcohol advertising and media exposure on adolescent alcohol use: asystematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol & Alcoholism, 44, 229–243.
 Finn, T. A., & Strickland, D. E. (1982). A content analysis of beverage alcohol
advertising: II. Television advertising. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 43, 964-989.
 Gordon, R., Hastings, G., & Moodie, C. (2010). Alcohol marketing and young
people’s drinking: What the evidence base suggests for policy. Journal of Public
Affairs, 10, 88-101.
 Hastings, G., Anderson, S., Cooke, E., & Gordon, R. (2005). Alcohol marketing andyoung people’s drinking: A review of the research. Journal of Public Health Policy
26, 296–31.
 Snyder, L. B., Milici, F. F., Slater, M., Sun, H., & Strizhakova, Y. (2006). Effects ofalcohol advertising exposure on youth drinking. Archives of Pediatric andAdolescent Medicine 160, 18–24.