Youth digital alcohol marketing surveillance: assessing content on 2 social media platforms across 20 alcohol brands

AIMS: Alcohol advertising is causally linked to early alcohol initiation and other harms. We characterized the content of social media alcohol advertising, and documented compliance with alcohol industry guidelines intended to prevent risks to minors and other populations vulnerable to alcohol harms. METHODS: In January and February 2024, 816 ads were gathered from Instagram, YouTube, and their respective ad libraries (Meta and Alphabet). Ads were selected for 20 alcohol brands representing the 5 top-selling brands within each of 4 major alcohol product categories: beer, spirits, seltzers, and ready-to-drink cocktails. Multiple team members reviewed each ad and documented features, themes, compliance with industry guidelines, and responses to the ads using a standard protocol based on prior research. RESULTS: After removal of 148 exact duplicates, a sample of 309 ads were coded from the remaining 668 ads collected (46% of the sample). A total of 59% contained video. Common content included corporate branding (89%) and product display (68%). A total of 33% of ads, half of video ads (53%), and up to two-thirds (66%) of ads on one social media platform were non-compliant with industry guidelines. Ad views ranged from 13 to 37 million. Median user engagement (likes, shares, comments) was 79.5 per ad (range 0-168 240). User engagement was significantly higher for non-compliant ads vs. compliant ads (P = .007), although there was no difference in views (P = .263). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest a need for updating guidelines and stronger independent surveillance to monitor digital ad content to prevent messaging that may increase alcohol risks, especially for young people and other vulnerable populations.