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Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs logoLink to Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
. 2010 May;71(3):445–451. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2010.71.445

Assessment of Self-Regulatory Code Violations in Brazilian Television Beer Advertisements*

Alan Vendrame 1,†, Ilana Pinsky 1, Rebeca Souza E Silva 1,†, Thomas Babor 1,†
PMCID: PMC2859792  PMID: 20409439

Abstract

Objective:

Research suggests that alcoholic beverage advertisements may have an adverse effect on teenagers and young adults, owing to their vulnerability to suggestive message content. This study was designed to evaluate perceived violations of the content guidelines of the Brazilian alcohol marketing self-regulation code, based on ratings of the five most popular beer advertisements broadcast on television in the summer of 2005–2006 and during the 2006 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup games.

Method:

Five beer advertisements were selected from a previous study showing that they were perceived to be highly appealing to a sample of Brazilian teenagers. These advertisements were evaluated by a sample of Brazilian high school students using a rating procedure designed to measure the content of alcohol advertisements covered in industry self-regulation codes.

Results:

All five advertisements were found to violate multiple guidelines of the Brazilian code of marketing self-regulation. The advertisement with the greatest number of violations was Antarctica's “Male Repellent,” which was perceived to violate 11 of the 16 guidelines in the code. Two advertisements had nine violations, and one had eight. The guidelines most likely to be violated by these advertisements were Guideline 1, which is aimed at protecting children and teenagers, and Guideline 2, which prohibits content encouraging excessive and irresponsible alcoholic beverage consumption.

Conclusions:

The five beer advertisements rated as most appealing to Brazilian teenagers were perceived by a sample of the same population to have violated numerous principles of the Brazilian self-regulation code governing the marketing of alcoholic beverages. Because of these numerous perceived code violations, it now seems important for regulatory authorities to submit industry marketing content to more systematic evaluation by young people and public health experts and for researchers to focus more on the ways in which alcohol advertising influences early onset of drinking and excessive alcohol consumption.

Research suggests that alcoholic beverage advertisements may have an adverse effect on teenagers and young adults, owing to their vulnerability to message content that promotes the use of these products (Babor et al., 2003, 2010). Several studies have found associations between exposure to alcohol advertisements and early initiation of alcohol consumption as well as heavier drinking (Snyder et al., 2006; Stacy et al., 2004). In an effort to protect vulnerable populations, alcoholic beverage advertisements in many countries are subject to a variety of restrictions, many of which are related to the content of marketing messages.

There are two regulatory systems for alcoholic beverage advertisements adopted worldwide: (a) legal control (e.g., France and Holland), in which the government imposes restrictions on exposure markets and content, and (b) self-regulatory or ethical control (e.g., United States, Australia, and United Kingdom), in which the alcohol and/or the advertising industry are responsible for monitoring their own compliance with guidelines for responsible advertising (Jones, 2000).

Brazil has adopted self-regulation of its alcohol advertising, giving that responsibility to the Conselho Nacional de Auto-regulamentação Publicitária (CONAR [2004], or the National Council on Marketing Self-Regulation). The rules and restrictions contained in the Brazilian self-regulation code of marketing result from two principles: (a) protection of children and teenagers and (b) prohibition against the encouragement of irresponsible consumption of alcoholic beverages. Consequently, the code proposes a series of guidelines to regulate the content of advertising messages. Although the alcohol industry's marketing sector defends the effectiveness of self-regulation (Narchi, 2005), the extent to which the self-regulation guidelines are actually followed by Brazilian advertisers remains an open question. Brazil is an important country to evaluate self-regulation guidelines for because of its large population and the extent of the alcohol-related problems it has experienced. In addition, the multinational alcohol industry has identified Brazil as one of its prime markets in the emerging economies of the developing world (Babor et al., 2010; Caetano and Laranjeira, 2006).

Studies conducted in Australia have questioned the effectiveness of self-regulation in a variety of situations, ranging from advertisements on television and in magazines to businesses promoting sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages (Jones, 2000; Jones and Lynch, 2007; Jones et al., 2008). These studies used experts from relevant health professions who had no connection with the alcohol industry to evaluate these various forms of marketing, and the results revealed a considerable number of violations of the self-regulation codes.

Self-regulation of alcoholic beverage advertising has also become an object of study by American researchers, who developed rating scales to assess the efficacy of the U.S. Beer Institute Code (Babor et al., 2008). It was observed that these rating scales can be used reliably by young adults to monitor the effectiveness of self-regulatory guidelines.

To date, there have been no published studies of self-regulation codes governing alcoholic beverage advertisements in developing countries, nor have there been studies of teenagers' perceptions of alcohol advertisements, given this age groups' vulnerability to the content of messages and their need for protection by self-regulatory codes.

This study was designed to document the extent of violations of the Brazilian alcohol marketing self-regulation code in five of the most popular beer advertisements broadcast on Brazilian television. A secondary aim was to evaluate the feasibility of a new methodology developed to evaluate code violations of the self-regulation guidelines.

Method

Beer advertisements were selected in a previous stage of this project, when 132 teenagers watched 33 beer and alcoholic iced drink commercials that had been broadcast in the summer of 2005–2006 and during the 2006 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup (Vendrame et al., 2009). Each of these advertisements was graded from 0 to 10, according to the teenagers' ratings of attractiveness. Concomitantly, respondents were asked to estimate how many times they had seen each commercial. The top five beer advertisements, which were considered to be the most liked and to which teenagers had been most exposed, were selected for this study. The following is a brief description of the five advertisements.

  1. “Nude Fan,” by Skol (Mattractiveness score = 9.24, SD = 1.84): During a soccer game with the Brazilian team, a nude fan invades the field and prevents a goal. Then another youthful-looking fan is shown sitting in the stadium bleachers and says, “If the guy who created Skol had invented the European fan, he wouldn't be like that. He'd be like this....” The commercial then shows the nude fan invading the field and scoring goals for the Brazilian team in different ways. The police try to stop him, but he tricks them by dribbling. In the end, he runs toward the Brazilian players to celebrate a goal he scored, but they run away.

  2. “Slide Tackle,” by Skol (Mattractiveness score = 9.23, SD = 1.64): The advertisement shows a soccer game in progress between Brazil and Argentina. An Argentine player uses a violent “slide tackle” to fell a Brazilian player. A young-looking fan is shown in the stadium saying, “If the guy who invented Skol had also invented the ‘slide tackle,’ it would not be like that, but like this….” The next scene shows the Argentine player sliding across the field and with legs spread apart, banging into the goal post.

  3. “Peanuts and Beer,” by Nova Schin (Mattractiveness score = 7.33, SD = 2.45): A couple is shopping in a supermarket. The husband is bored. The wife asks what they should buy. Suddenly, the advertisement reveals images of the nerve cells inside his brain, depicted as several small men. When his wife suggests they buy peanuts (amendoim in Portuguese), these little men agree and start, all at the same time, to repeat the words “peanut” and “Nova Schin” (the two words rhyme in Portuguese). At this point, the men, suddenly motivated, agree with the wife and put peanuts and several cases of beer into the supermarket cart.

  4. “The Old Days,” by Bavaria (Mattractiveness score = 7.32, SD = 2.33): The advertisement begins with the voice of an announcer who asks: “Have you noticed how people used to look serious in pictures in the old days?” Then the scene shows a party with people dressed in old-style clothes. Several uninhibited women are dancing on tops of tables. When the beer supply is exhausted, everyone becomes serious and a group picture is taken.

  5. “Male Repellent,” by Antarctica (Mattractiveness score = 6.95, SD = 2.72): Three men, each one with a glass full of beer, have just arrived at a dance club and realize that almost everyone there is male. The owners of the club (two celebrities: a sensual Brazilian soap-opera actress and a male comedian) approach the three men to assist them. The comedian takes off his shirt, sprays himself with a “male repellent,” and begins dancing. All the other men leave the party. At this point, the three men with the beer approach the girls and begin to dance with them.

Participants

The teenage raters who were asked to evaluate the advertisements were high school students from two public schools in São Bernardo do Campo, a city that is part of São Paulo's metropolitan area, in Brazil. They comprised 10 first-year and second-year high school classes. All students in these classes were invited to participate in the study. Their participation was preceded by obtaining parents' passive consent and the school administration's explicit authorization. There were no refusals by either parents or school principals. All students attending class on the day of data collection participated in the survey. The sample consisted of 282 individuals, of which 45.5% were male. The mean age was 15.8 years. The mean age of first consumption of an alcoholic beverage was 13.8 years among the 189 (67%) teenagers who declared having already had a first drink. Among the admitted drinkers, 29.7% reported drinking a few days a year; 6.7% drank once a month; 13.4% drank two to three times a month; 8.1% drank once a week; 3.5% drank two to three times a week; and 0.7% drank three to six times a week. Of those teenagers who drank, 33.6% of the boys and 39.7% of the girls had at least one heavy episodic drinking occasion in the previous 30 days.

Measures

A questionnaire was designed to measure the content guidelines of the Brazilian self-regulation marketing code. Each guideline involved the preparation of at least one corresponding question or rating scale item. In the case of several longer or more complicated guidelines, more than one question was needed to cover them. Most of the questions (see Table 1) had “yes” or “no” answers. The questionnaire was based on previous work performed by Babor et al. (2008) and was tested in focus groups with teenagers, all between ages 12 and 16 years, from two schools in the city of São Paulo.

Table 1.

Guideline violations identified by 282 adolescents in each of five beer advertisements (% students endorsing a question indicative of a violation)

Average rating: Positive response for Brazilian self-regulatory code violationa (%)
(Guideline no.) Item description Question Ad 1 Skol “Slide Tackle” Ad 2 Nova Schin “Peanuts and Beer” Ad 3 Bavaria “The Old Days” Ad 4 Skol “Nude Fan” Ad 5 Antarctica “Male Repellent”
(1) The selling line shall not present any appeal to consumption—it should be limited to exposing the product brand. 1. Selling line employs appeal to alcohol consumption? 71.8** 77.8** 72.6** 68.4** 73.6**
(2) Protection of children and adolescents 2. Images directed at minors? 74.9** 62.5** 57† 79.7** 70.9**
3. Is this ad attractive to you? 73** 62.5** 68** 69.5** 71.5**
4. Does this ad use symbols, etc., that are attractive to minors? 73.9** 51.4 67** 75.2** 68**
7. Are the characters attractive to you? 64.1** 60.5** 66.7** 59.8** 75.1**
17. Are there celebrities attractive to minors? 50 17 33 44 80.4**
(2.a) Any person appearing in the advertisement shall be and look older than 25. 5. Characters' age classification rated as 25 or younger 84.7** 49.5 52 72.4** 80.7**
36. Estimated age of main character in the ad rated as 25 or younger (estimate of exact age) 87.4** 51 51.5 86** 71.6**
(2.b) Advertisements shall not favor acceptance of the product as proper for minors. 10. Would alcohol consumption by minors be acceptable in the situation depicted in the ad? 58.9** 36 61** 67** 67.7
(2.c) The advertisements shall not use language, etc., that may arouse the attention or curiosity of minors and contribute to the adoption of moral values or habits incompatible with their condition. 11. Images or behaviors were utilized that arouse curiosity by minors? 77.2** 52 70.2** 81.5** 85.8**
(2.c.l) Shall avoid exploitation of sexuality 6. Does it exploit sexuality? 10 8 72.2** 68.5** 75.2**
12. Sexuality predominates in the ad? 10 7 66.7** 55.7** 69.4**
13. Vulgar language or situations? 50 52 67** 64.9** 61.6**
(2.C.2) Shall not contain any scene, illustration, audio or video that portrays immoderate consumption of the product 16. People consuming beer excessively? (yes or no) 84** 52.3 97.5** 88.3** 95.4**
(3) Responsible consumption 8. Shows people under the influence of alcohol? 45 8 86.8** 68.8** 69.4**
9. Suggests that being drunk is acceptable? 51 16 80** 65.5** 70**
18. Shows people abusing alcohol? 35 26 73.8** 52 49.6
(3.a) Shall not make consumption of the product look like a positive challenge or disparage those who do not drink 22. Implies that person not drinking alcohol would be disparaged? 38 22 62.6** 36 57†
(3.b) Shall not give the impression that the product is being recommended or suggested by virtue of intoxicating effects 23. Suggests that alcohol should be used by virtue of its intoxication effects? 58† 41 71.2** 61.3** 61.2**
(3.c) Shall not use the alcoholic content of the product as the major appeal 24. Uses the alcoholic content as the major appeal? 37 34 52 46 46
(3.d) No positive association between product consumption and driving vehicles shall be made. 26. Positive association between product and driving vehicles? 9 10 12 12 9
(3.e) Consumption in improper, illegal, dangerous or socially condemnable situations shall not be encouraged. 29. Consumption in improper, illegal, dangerous, or socially condemnable situations? 22 9 19 28 15
(3.f) No association of the product with performance of any professional activity shall be made. 30. Association of the product with performance of any professional activity? 38 19 15 32 16
(3.g) No association of the product with situations that suggest aggressiveness, use of weapons, and changes of emotional equilibrium shall be made. 31. Association of the product with situations that suggest aggressiveness, use of weapons, and changes of emotional equilibrium? 22 10 16 22 10
(3.h) Shall not use images, language, or ideas that suggest that consumption of the product is an indication of maturity or contributes to professional, social, or sexual success. 14. Suggests that alcohol contributes to sexual/social or professional success? 11 12 48 26 61.4**
20. Depicts people being seductive/seduced because of alcohol use? 8 6 68.8** 18 73**
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a

The positive ratings for violation were included, whose proportion was significantly greater than the proportion of negative responses. Below 53% there was no significant difference in relation to the proportion of negative responses.

**

p < .00;

†

.021 > p > .011.

Procedures

To control for order effects, the five advertisements were presented in three different sequences. The first sequence was from the first to the fifth advertisement; the second followed the reverse order; and the third was a random sequence.

The teenage raters were divided into 10 groups, according to their classes. A separate session was held for each class. At each session, the order was changed (all three sequences, successively). Each advertisement was shown two times. After the students registered their respective responses (using paper and pencil), the next advertisement was shown, following the same pattern until the end of the session. Each session lasted 70 minutes on average.

Analyses

The exact binomial test was chosen, using the SPSS statistical package, Version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL), to determine whether the proportion of positive responses differed significantly from 0.5, and, consequently, from the proportion of negative responses (note that one complements the other). This procedure was derived from a similar analysis developed by Babor et al. (2008), indicating that the guideline can be considered to be violated when a slight majority of the respondents answer in the direction of a perceived violation.

To identify possible differences in judgment resulting from socioeconomic factors, drinking history, and other individual characteristics, we selected two rules that were perceived to have been violated by large proportions of the participants (Guideline 1, Question 1, 77.8%; and Guideline 2, Question 17, 80.4%). The teenage judges were divided into two groups: (a) those who reported violation of Rules 1 and 2 in three or more advertisements and (b) those who reported a violation of Rules 1 and 2 in fewer than three advertisements. Once the new variables were defined, uni-variate analysis was used to evaluate group differences in relation to personal and sociodemographic characteristics.

Finally, research participants' estimates of beer consumption by the main characters in the advertisements were analyzed to find out whether teenage judges who reported consuming alcoholic beverages in the previous 30 days attributed higher consumption to the characters than did those who had not drunk alcohol.

Results

Table 1 shows which guidelines were violated in each of the advertisements. All five advertisements were found to violate at least one of the guidelines of the Brazilian code of marketing self-regulation. The advertisement with the greatest number of violations was Antarctica's “Male Repellent,” which was rated as having 11 of the 16 guidelines in violation of the code. One advertisement had 10 violations (“The Old Days”), one had 9 (“Nude Fan”), one had 7 (“Slide Tackle”), and one had 2 (“Peanuts and Beer). The guidelines most likely to be violated by these advertisements were Guideline 1 (appeal to alcohol consumption in the selling line) and Guideline 2 (children and adolescents will not be the target of the advertisement), as well as Guidelines 2.b (product will not be presented as appropriate to minors), 2.c (the advertisements shall not use language that may arouse the attention or curiosity of minors and contribute to the adoption of moral values or habits incompatible with their condition), 2.c.2 (shall not contain any scene, illustration audio or video that portrays immoderate audio or video that portrays immoderate), and 3.b (shall not give the impression that the product is being recommended or suggested by virtue of intoxicating effects).

Many of the guidelines refer to multiple types of content; therefore, some of them can be violated in more than one way (e.g., Guideline 2). For this reason it was decided to use at least one question for each guideline (e.g., Guideline 1), and in some cases more than one question was constructed to provide satisfactory coverage of the text of that specific guideline (e.g., Guideline 3). In these cases, a “yes” answer to any one of the content issues inquired about was sufficient to record a violation for that particular guideline.

The following example is provided to illustrate the violation analysis. Guideline 2 was covered by Questions 2, 3, 4, 7, and 17 of the questionnaire. Regarding Advertisement 1, 74.9% of the respondents answered “yes”; that is, they pointed to a violation in Question 2, which asked whether the images in the advertisement were targeted at minors. In this case, a violation was judged to have occurred because the proportion of “yes” responses (through the exact binomial test) was significantly higher than the proportion of “no” responses (observed proportion = .749, p < .00).

In the case of Question 17 (“Does this advertisement feature athletes or other celebrities who are also attractive to minors?”), only Advertisement 5 achieved a greater proportion of “yes” responses (80.4%) than “no” responses, with acceptable statistical significance (observed proportion = .804, p < .00).

The age perception question measuring the estimated age of the main character revealed that in three of the advertisements the main character appeared to be less than 25 years of age (MAd 1 = 20.6 years old, SD = 3.6; MAd 2 = 20.3 years old, SD = 3.4; MAd 5 = 21.9 years old, SD = 3.7). This is a violation because the code specifies that actors must not appear to be younger than age 25.

To investigate whether the personal and demographic characteristics of the raters affected their judgments, uni-variate analyses were employed with different independent variables for a new response variable, presence of violation of Guidelines 1 and 2 in three or more advertisements. This variable was created because Guidelines 1 and 2 were violated in all five advertisements. No significant differences were found in any of the variables (age, sex, ethnic group, work, religion, alcohol consumption in the previous 30 days, heavy episodic drinking in the previous 30 days, or parents' alcohol consumption).

The teenagers had estimated the amount of alcohol consumption by the characters. At the same time, teenagers' alcohol consumption in the previous 30 days was measured. This is an analysis that compared both consumption estimates: Characters (consumption estimate) and Teenagers (previous 30 days). The analysis of variables that compared estimated alcohol consumption by the characters portrayed in the advertisements with the amount consumed by teenage judges themselves in the previous 30 days found statistically significant associations for the Nova Schin “Peanuts and Beer” advertisement, χ2 = 12.97, p < .011, and Bavaria's “The Old Days” advertisement, χ2 = 9.56, p < .040. In both cases, the teenagers' reported alcohol consumption was positively associated with their tendency to attribute more consumption to characters portrayed in the advertisements.

Discussion

According to this study's sample of teenage raters, the five most popular beer advertisements selected in a prior study by Brazilian students all violated the Brazilian self-regulatory marketing code in numerous areas. Of the 16 possible guidelines, 11 were observed to have violations. The guidelines that remained without violations were 3.c, 3.d, 3.e, 3.f, and 3.g, which are the ones that have highly specific content that pertains to rare events (e.g., consumption in improper, illegal, dangerous, or socially condemnable situations) or to industry issues (e.g., should not promote the alcohol content of the product as its major appeal). In these cases, the interpretation is less difficult than in the case of rules whose interpretation is completely subjective, such as Guideline 2, which prohibits messages that are directed at children and adolescents.

Guideline 1 was violated in all five advertisements. This indicates that the theme of each of these advertisements was seen to encourage alcohol consumption.

Findings from the section of the code designed to protect children and teenagers are also instructive. This part of the code has a number of guidelines in relation to responsible consumption. In all five advertisements, the guidelines that should protect this target group were violated more often compared with the other parts of the code.

These findings raise serious questions about the effectiveness of industry self-regulation of its own advertising content. The data reveal that all of these advertisements were viewed as attractive and directed toward children and teenagers, to the extent that they used language and graphic images that, according to the teenage judges' assessments, aroused children's and teenagers' curiosity, in addition to suggesting sexual themes in their situations and dialogues. Moreover, with the exception of the Nova Schin (“Peanuts and Beer”) and Bavaria (“The Old Days”) advertisements, the remaining advertisements (two by Skol and one by Antarctica) violated the minimum age limit for characters portrayed in alcohol advertisements. Not only did the characters in these advertisements look younger than 25 years old (which is the minimum age for actors to be employed in alcohol advertisements), but the question asking for an exact estimate of the main character's perceived age also indicated that these advertisements used actors who appeared much younger than that allowed by the code (MAd 1 = 20.6 years old; MAd 2 = 20.3 years old; MAd 5 = 21.9 years old). The judges' age ratings of the two Skol advertisements are consistent with Skol's “young spirit” theme (http://www.skol.com.br/institucional/sobreskol.aspx). Advertisements by Skol tend to feature actors who look very young, and the advertisements often use images that present a funny, attractive, and irreverent tone. The data revealed that the most serious violations of the age limit for actors and characters were observed in the Skol advertisements.

Regarding Antarctica beer, the “Male Repellent,” the marketing campaign featured as main actors the comedian Bussunda (Cláudio Besserman Vianna) and the soap-opera actress Juliana Paes. Bussunda was a widely acknowledged comedian among children and teenagers, whereas Juliana Paes' sensuality tends to stand out in her television appearances. Their advertisement portrays in a funny and sexually attractive way the existence of a club of beer admirers, which is identified in the advertisement as the B.O.A. Club. (B.O.A. means Bebedores Oficiais de Antarctica or Official Drinkers of Antarctica. But the word boa in Portuguese also means hot girl. So, B.O.A. Club can be defined as Hot Girls Club.)

In addition to the part of the code designed for the protection of children and teenagers, a large number of violations took place in the section that prohibits advertisements from encouraging excessive, irresponsible beer consumption. In this case, the advertisements that violated the greatest number of guidelines were Bavaria's (three of nine guidelines) and Antarctica's (four of nine guidelines). Both advertisements portrayed young people at parties, girls dancing sensually, and almost everyone holding glasses full of beer. Regarding Bavaria's advertisement, the explicit message is that a party is exciting only when people drink beer. Without beer, parties grow dull and people become serious.

Based on these data, it can be concluded that teenage judges, when evaluating advertisements showing young people at parties, believed that beer consumption is encouraged, and also that drinking is portrayed as a sign of maturity and an important ingredient for social and sexual success in the situations shown.

It is important to note that the teenage judges' assessments did not differ significantly according to individual difference characteristics (e.g., alcohol consumption, sex, ethnic group, age). There were no significant differences between teenagers who perceived a great number of violations and those who did not. Proctor et al. (2005) found that variables related to young adults' alcohol consumption were positively associated with their tendency to attribute more consumption to characters portrayed in a series of beer advertisements. These findings were partially confirmed in the present study with a positive relationship in Advertisements 2 and 3. In the remaining advertisements, the responses were not statistically different between the group of teenage judges who drank alcohol in the previous 30 days and those who did not. These findings suggest that the themes and characters in some advertisements are perceived by adolescent drinkers as modeling heavier drinking than that perceived by nondrinkers.

This study also provides evidence for the utility of a new methodology designed to provide independent evaluation of the effectiveness of self-regulation codes governing alcohol advertisements. The focus in this study was on the most popular advertisements perceived by a key vulnerable population as well as in the development of an instrument measuring the codes already in use in a country considered to be a prime target of the international alcoholic beverage industry (Caetano and Laranjeira, 2006). To date most research on the effects of alcohol marketing has focused on exposure to alcohol advertisements over an extended period. By measuring the actual content of advertisements that is considered to be in violation of the self-regulation guidelines, it may be possible to obtain a better measure of exposure than has been possible in previous research.

In summary, the results of this study show that the five beer advertisements rated as most appealing to a sample of Brazilian teenagers were perceived by a sample of the same population to have violated the two key principles of Brazilian self-regulation code governing the marketing of alcoholic beverages, specifically those aimed at protection of children and teenagers and the prohibition against encouraging excessive and irresponsible alcoholic beverage consumption. There is no reason to assume that the violations found here are restricted to the five advertisements analyzed in this study. Most similar advertisements are part of organized campaigns promoted by their respective beer brands and have similar contents that are broadcast on television continuously.

Limitations to this study include the use of teenagers in a group environment (classes of 25 individuals, on average). Although the questionnaires were designed to be answered individually, it is possible that some teenagers could have been influenced in their answers by colleagues' reactions in the classes.

Another limitation was the lack of expert raters to interpret the guidelines from the clinical and public health perspectives. Although expert raters are likely to provide a critical perspective on the extent to which actual code violations have occurred, it seems important to begin this line of research with a focus on the actual perceptions of members of the vulnerable target group. If no content violations were perceived by the target group, then it would not make sense to ban this kind of content from alcohol advertisements. Because of these numerous perceived code violations in the advertisements considered to be the most appealing by Brazilian teenagers, it now seems important for regulatory and health authorities to require that all alcohol advertisements be subject to evaluation both by experts and by members of vulnerable target groups, and for researchers to focus more on the ways in which alcohol advertising influences early onset of drinking and excessive alcohol consumption. The procedure used in this study has the advantage of providing a rapid and economical evaluation of the extent to which the self-regulation codes of a given country, alcohol producer, or beverage type are compliant with the industry's self-regulation codes.

Footnotes

*

This research was supported by Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grants 2003/06250-7 and 04/13564-0, and U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grants 5R21AA13530 and 1R01AA015383 awarded to Thomas Babor.

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