When you watch an advertisement for a new fast food product or a new piece of technology, you feel the need to buy it because of its appeal and the benefits it will tell you. Michigan State University did a study that showed that Facebook ads that promote beer indulge in alcohol consumption. The more ads someone sees on their social network account, the more likely they are to run to their favorite bar or grocery store and consume in an alcoholic beverage.
Alcohol advertising
Beer companies use contests, giveaways, and games for new followers on social media. For example, Coors Brewing Company promotes Coor Light through their app to earn experience points to win cash rewards like sports gear and tickets. You enter the codes that you find on a 12 pack or 15 pack of Coors Light and post those pictures on Instagram with a special hashtag, trivia where they serve Coors Light, or share those pictures on Facebook. There are also ads like Smirnoff Ice that shows four pints of the drink with the tagline “Know Your Limit.” In reality, drinking four pints of beer is considered dangerous.
Social media posts
Social networking can propagandize the fun of drinking and recruit more people to join. Friends can organize happy hours and parties on Facebook as well as document those moments on Instagram, Snapchat, and other social networks. For example, there is a Facebook group called “Take Me Home, I’m Drunk” that has more than 3,500 members for anyone with the common interest in drinking, smoking, and partying. There is also a Facebook community called “Drunk People Doing Things” which has photos and videos of drunken behavior that has more than 720,000 members and two million followers on Instagram.
Social media ads ruining sobriety
Seeing a bunch of Facebook ads on drinking can cause a relapse which can ruin all of the hard work you have done to achieve sobriety. Luckily on Facebook, there is a tool to block alcohol-related ads for six months, a year, or permanently. Facebook should also do an age-verification process in case people under the age of 21 see these ads and the same can be said to Twitter and ads on age-appropriate YouTube videos. Having beer ads flooding your social networking feeds can threaten your sobriety by luring you to buy a beer and either start or relapse your alcoholism.
Located in downtown Midland, The Springboard Center’s mission is to offer programs and services to treat alcohol and drug addiction treatment using an evidence based curriculum, 12 step programs, diet, nutrition, exercise, emotional, mental and spiritual development for a long recovery. For more information, please call us at 432-620-0255 as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
