Study finds support for not showing booze in kids’ films

Most Australian adults support the use of policies to restrict the depiction of alcohol in films aimed at children aged under 15, according to a new study from La Trobe University.

Alcohol exposure is common in popular films, and research has demonstrated a link between alcohol exposure and use.

At the moment, only alcohol marketing in films is regulated, but not alcohol exposure, such as seeing an alcoholic beverage.

Researchers from the La Trobe University Centre for Alcohol Policy Research launched a study to see how supportive people were of eight potential policies, and whether people would be more supportive of restrictions if they received information about how much alcohol was actually in popular films.

Led by PhD candidate Maree Patsouras, the study, published in Drug and Alcohol Review, found all participants were supportive of four of the eight proposed policies, but two in particular.

“Policies such as not showing alcoholic beverages or alcohol use in films recommended towards children under 15, and not glorifying alcohol consumption/alcoholic beverages, were the most supported policies in the study,” Ms Patsouras said.

The study involved 252 Australian adults aged 18-75, who provided an estimate of how much alcohol they thought was in popular films at the start of the study, and then randomly placed into two groups.

One group was shown an infographic outlining the actual amount of alcohol in films, to determine if this would affect their views of the policies.

The participants were asked to rate their support of eight policies aimed at addressing alcohol consumption in films.

Those who were older, female or reported lower alcohol use were more supportive of the policies.

The policies supported by the majority of people were that alcoholic beverages and consumption should not be shown in G or PG rated films, and alcohol should not be glorified in films.

The researchers said this was consistent with previous Australian research showing that obvious or prominent alcohol consumption should not be featured in films targeted towards children aged under 15.

“Consistently, participants in our study may have endorsed support for these items because they represented basic regulations they believed were important and were already in place. For example, G film classifications may be considered a ‘proxy’ for suitable children content, without awareness of actual exposure amounts,” the study found.

The two policies with lowest support were that alcoholic beverages should not be shown within any film, regardless of classification; and at the beginning of each film, information should be provided about how much alcohol the film contains.