A new study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, concludes that alcohol imagery should be given greater consideration in determining the suitability of films for viewing by children and young people. This conclusion, follows from a comprehensive analysis of 300 of the most popular UK films of the last two decades.

 

The study was conducted in cooperation between the Royal University Hospital in Liverpool and the University of Nottingham. The researchers, among which sir Ian Gilmore (former president of the Royal College of Physicians), have analyzed the movies for alcohol appearances. They did this using a system of 5-min interval coding.

The researchers found that nearly a quarter of all analyzed intervals contained at least one appearance of alcohol. While in 86% of the analyzed movies, alcohol was portrayed at least once and 35% of the movies contains at least one episode of alcohol branding.

A concerning conclusion was that most of the films containing alcohol appearances, where rated as being suitable for viewing by children and young people. The article stresses that exposure to alcohol products in feature films is a risk factor for use of alcohol by young people and thus should be taken into consideration more seriously in movie ratings.

The full article can be read on the website of the International Journal of Epidemiology

 

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