Beer promotion during European Football Championship popular with under 16's

Research commissioned by STAP (Dutch Foundation for Alcohol Prevention), and carried out by the University Twente among 1688 youngsters of 12-15 years old, shows that young people under the 16 had more possitive attitudes towards drinking beer, as a result of exposure to television beer advertising during the 2008 European Championship. Those who claimed to have watched many football games, showed a higher intention to drink alcohol in the coming months than youth who did not watch the games frequently. Almost all boys (95%) and most girls (90%) had seen beer adverts during the championship; most youngsters claimed to enjoy them, and showed increased brand awareness after such exposure. The findings suggest that promotional gadgets such as the Heineken "Trom-Pet", and the Jupiler "Holland Horn", were also very popular, and owned by almost a quarter of the youngsters. This is worrying in the light of evidence showing positive relationships between brand ownership and alcohol consumption. The alarming findings of this study have served to reinforce STAP's plead for a ban on alcohol promotion during sports events. Read the whole press release here.