Teenagers consider zero-alcohol beverages to be a type of alcoholic drink, according to research by Flinders University.
“Our new study shows that teenagers classify zero-alcohol drinks as a type of alcoholic beverage, rather than as a soft drink,” says lead author Dr Ashlea Bartram from the Flinders Health and Medical Institute (FHMRI).
It means that exposure to zero-alcohol drinks in advertising or retail spaces such as the local supermarket, may have the same type of negative effects that come from exposure to alcoholic beverages.
“This is a major concern because there is a well-established association between frequency of alcohol advertising exposure and alcohol consumption among adolescents,” says Dr Bartram (pictured).
“In other words, the more alcohol advertising a young person is exposed to, the more alcohol they consume.”
Zero-alcohol drinks (<0.5 percent alcohol) resemble alcohol in appearance and taste, and are most often advertised under established alcohol brands (known as ‘brand extensions’) or as entirely new products (‘new to world’).
Dr Bartram warns there are few current restrictions on zero-alcohol drinks, which are freely available for sale to all age groups, including in places where alcohol is not available, such as supermarkets – and in these places they are often located alongside soft drinks.
The study published in International Journal of Drug Policy involved more than 300 teenagers aged 15 to 17 years participating in a reaction-time experiment, viewing 20 randomly ordered images of alcoholic drinks, zero-alcohol drinks and soft drinks.
They were asked to quickly indicate whether the images made them think of alcohol.
Their response time and agreement levels were recorded and analysed.
The study was designed to further understand their perceptions of zero-alcohol drinks and the impacts these perceptions may have on their future alcohol consumption.
“Most images of alcoholic drinks (94.4 percent), the ‘brand extension’ zero-alcohol drinks (90.7 percent), and ‘new-to-world’ zero-alcohol (85.6 percent) drinks prompted them to think of alcohol, compared to just 5.2 percent of images of soft drinks,” says Dr Bartram.
“They were slightly quicker to categorise ‘brand extension’ (such as Heineken or Gordon’s) zero-alcohol drinks as alcohol rather than ‘new-to-world’ drinks – but overall it was clear that the vast majority of these products were prompting teens to think of alcohol.
“Put simply, in the majority of cases, young people associate zero-alcohol drinks with alcohol, so there is now a strong argument for some sensible restrictions to be made on where these drinks can be sold and advertised.”
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