Energy Drink TV Ads Target Adolescents
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Mauro Matacchione/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Pediatricians warn against teen energy drink consumption, but the amount of TV advertising devoted to teens for these products fights that.
Researchers looked at a year’s worth of ads, and found that 13 manufacturers aired 83,071 commercials for energy drinks – that’s over 608 hours, on 139 different networks, according to a study published Friday in the Journal of the Nutritional Education and Behavior.
Ten channels accounted for nearly half of the airtime, and six of these included adolescents as young as 12 in their target demographic.
MTV2 had the most energy drink advertising and the greatest proportion of adolescents in its base audience.
The researchers could not definitively conclude that adolescents viewed the ads, but they say it is likely.
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