Information about alcohol abuse does not work. Such the conclusion of the Dutch researchers at Radboud University in cooperation with the Foundation for Alcohol Prevention (Stichting Alcoholpreventie - STAP). Cautionary TV spots appear to have no effect among the young. Alcohol advertisements, on the other hand, encourage young people to increased drinking, even during watching the spots.

Researchers in Nijmegen allowed some young subjects to watch two films: one in which hardly any drink was drunk, and a second in which the alcohol flowed in abundance. Every so often advertisement blocks were shown with or without alcohol commercials. Considerably more was drunk, up to twice as much, when watching the film with liberal drinking and when watching the alcohol advert.

“Countless studies have shown that information campaigns among young adults do not bring about any understanding of own drinking patterns”, says Esther van den Wildenberg from STAP. By way of explanation she refers to the fact that the brain is not fully developed until the age of  24, and certainly not that part of the brain that is involved in taking responsible decisions, planning and impulse control. This is why moralizing messages make little if any impression.

Can anything be done about excessive drinking? Perhaps a campaign targeting the parents, to make them aware of the damage that too much alcohol can cause in their developing children. “However, whether that sort of campaign will in fact have any influence remains to be seen”, says van den Wildenberg.

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