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Alcohol ads on social media may influence you to drink

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Riddhi Sharma
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CIOL Alcohol ads on social media

Alcohol advertising on social media has greater power to influence users to go out for a drink, a recent study by researchers from Michigan State University, claims.

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The researchers exposed 121 individuals to two types of ads—one group viewed ads for a brand of beer, the other saw ads for a brand of bottled water—on social networking site Facebook. The researchers then offered each one a choice between a bar gift card and a coffee shop gift card. They found that 73 percent of those were exposed to beer ad, chose the bar gift card, and only 55 percent of those who saw bottled water ads went for bar gift card.

The researchers claim that the 30 percent difference between two groups who chose the bar gift card is indicative how social media ads on alcohol impacts user preferences. This could impact advertising potential for alcohol brands, after they were banned from using direct advertising on traditional media, such as print and TV.

Although, there could be other factors that could have influenced the results for some of the participants, for instance personal preferences, but the research seeks to establish a direct relation between what the user sees on social media and their actions thereafter. Even accounting for the fact that alcohol is typically more expensive than coffee, which might make the bar card more desirable, the difference between the groups is noteworthy.

“What this tells us is there is an effect and it can be attributed to the sheer exposure to these messages,” said Saleem Alhabash, assistant professor of advertising and public relations at MSU who led the study. “It primes them to think about alcohol,” he added.