NEW YORK - "Sticky" Web site features like interactive games, cartoon-like features, contests and surveys attract children to the sites of alcohol and tobacco companies, according to recent research by the Center for Media Education in Washington, D.C. These findings were discussed at an American Medical Association media briefing here, last month that focused on the media's impact on health behaviors.
According to CME, 82 percent of the 28 beer sites and 72 percent of the 29 spirits sites studied made some appeal to youth.
Although many of these sites make "cynical" attempts at discouraging those under 21 from visiting, CME's co-founder Kathryn C. Montgomery says that the sites also establish themselves as "electronic, interactive playgrounds" that can pique a young person's interest in alcohol. As an example, Montgomery cites a German company that uses an alluring cartoon character which behaves like a virtual pet. The site provides information about the emotional status of the pet and allows users to feed the character if it is hungry, pet it if it is upset and play music to entertain it.
Until there are more effective electronic ways of blocking children from surfing alcohol sites (filtering software, for instance, is too crude), Montgomery is calling on health officials to better educate the community about these offending sites, particularly parents and schools.
These concerns may be exaggerated if alcohol marketing on the Internet is similar to television advertising. Liquor advertising on TV has limited influence on decisions to drink by youth, according to researchers at Michigan State University. The findings of this research contrast sharply with what many adults believe about the appeal of alcohol marketing to children. For instance, according to MSU's poll of 1,800 adults, 37 percent favor banning beer ads and 52 percent favor banning liquor ads. A majority believed that more than half of teen viewers would be influenced to drink after seeing alcohol ads. Teens and children, however, believe these ads have only a slight influence on their decisions to drink, according to the study. (CME, Kathryn C. Montgomery, 202/331-7833, http://www.cme.org; MSU, Russ White, 517/355-2281, e-mail: [email protected])