Alcohol ads on T affect youth, study suggests

Alcohol advertising in Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority buses, subway trains and transit stations has a negative effect on youth because it could encourage underage drinking, a Boston University study found.

The study, led by School of Public Health professor and Community Health Services Associate Chairman Michael Siegel, concluded that alcohol advertisements reach 54 percent of Boston’s youth each day via the state transit system. The study was published in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

“Through the MBTA subway trains, alcohol companies are able to achieve, in a single day, the same amount of advertising exposure among Boston youths as if they took out 5.5 Super Bowl commercials,” Siegel said in an email. “All thanks to the state's willingness to allow its property to be used for alcohol marketing purposes.”

The report recommended that advertisements of this nature be banned entirely on MBTA property because of the “high exposure of underage youths to alcohol advertisements.”

State Rep. Martin Walsh, D-Suffolk, introduced legislation this fall that would ban alcohol advertising on state property. The bill is currently under review by the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

A decision is expected to be made in the coming weeks, Walsh said.

“In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, binge drinking is a huge problem among our youth,” Walsh said.  “If the alcohol companies are going to get the message out, it shouldn’t be on public property.”

Massachusetts is ranked ninth in the country in underage drinking rates, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The MBTA has already banned advertisements that feature tobacco, violence and sexual content, and remains the only transportation system in the country except for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City that still allows alcohol advertisements on its property.

MBTA Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in an email that the MBTA has no current plans to prohibit the advertisements in the future.

“The MBTA is mandated to maximize non-fare revenue to help cover the costs for operating expenses and ease the burden on fare-payers,” he said. “A significant portion of the non-fare revenue is generated through the T's advertising program. Only ads that are in compliance with the MBTA's court-approved guidelines appear on MBTA property.”

Siegel said he thinks finances are a poor excuse.

“In reality, it isn't about money at all, because if alcohol ads are eliminated, the MBTA will have no problem filling that advertising space with ads from other companies,” Siegel said. “It is very lucrative advertising space and it will not remain blank.”

Walsh said the MBTA should be focusing more on the people of Boston than making money.

“The state doesn’t lose any money by switching what products they advertise,” he said.  “If we banned alcohol advertising we would be sending a positive message, in particularly to high school and college kids.”

BU students were split on the true impact of alcohol advertising on Boston’s youth.

“As far as college students go, we are at the age where if we are going to drink, an ad isn’t going to make a difference,” College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Kacy Emmett said. “And for younger kids, I used to be obsessed with the cigarette Camel, but it didn’t make me start smoking.”

CAS sophomore June Kowalewski said the advertising was more likely to affect what kind of alcohol college students drink than whether they drink it at all.

“You go to Kenmore and it’s plastered with ads for Absolut Boston,” Kowalewski said. “The companies advertise on college campuses because they know it works.”

School of Education junior Chrisann Papera said she would be in support of restrictive legislation.

“I’m sure the ads bring in a lot of money, but they need to look at the larger picture to help the youth of Boston,” Papera said. “So many kids are being exposed to alcohol advertisements every day. There has to be some correlation.”