What you’re watching on the TV screen may influence you to grab a glass of wine or beer, according to a new study. It’s the first to examine how on-screen depictions of alcohol might influence consumer behavior.
Researchers in Canada and the Netherlands randomly assigned 40 unsuspecting men (ages 18 to 29) to watch 40 Days and 40 Nights edited with and without characters consuming alcohol or alcohol ads, or American Pie with or without the alcohol content. The men who watched the programs that included alcohol drank an average of three 200-milligram bottles of alcohol. Those who watched the “neutral” programs drank half that amount.
But don’t change the channel just yet. Jeffrey Parsons, chair of psychology at Hunter College in New York City—who did not participate in the research—told HealthDay that the study had limitations. “It was done just with young men, and there are a lot of differences in the role of gender and alcohol,” he said. “It’s also a Dutch study that used American movies. Part of me wonders if it’s just bad American movies that make people drink.”
Parsons may have a point.
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