nother and that advertising does not induce people to drink. On the other hand, public health advocates state that alcohol advertising increases total alcohol consumption and so alcohol abuse. Most of the studies that have been conducted on alcohol advertising examine the effect advertising has on alcohol consumption by measuring either taxable withdrawals or self reported consumption. This means that as average alcohol consumption increases in a population, abusive alcohol consumption can be expected to increase to the same degree. Researchers follow this reasoning and consider average consumption to be a good proxy measure for alcohol abuse. Saffer reports,
Although limited, econometric studies to date suggest that either new restrictions on advertising or more counter advertising could help reduce levels of alcohol abuse. Therefore, policymakers can consider three general options among their choices: increasing both advertising restrictions and counter advertising together or increasing either one alone (Saffer 272).
The type of advertising used makes some difference. While complaints have been made about the persuasive capabilities of advertising, more focused criticisms include the alleged targeting of underage drinkers through the use of appealing image advertising. Image advertising is often used by alcohol distributors and focuses on the lifestyle of the user of the product rather than on the intrinsic value of the product itself:
The image advertisement, with varying degrees of subtlety, suggests that the depicted lifestyles can be attained by use of the product. Image advertisements rarely make any explicit mention o
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