The Effects of Alcoholic Television Advertisement on Tertiary Students in Western Region (Published)
Alcoholic advertising in Ghana has portrayed alcoholic products as harmless and socially acceptable to everyone above the age of eighteen years, this has made alcoholic products very popular in the television waves in Ghana. Owing to this, the precious commodity which has contributed to various health and social needs, has become a subject of abuse among students in Western Region. The current study uses a descriptive study and data taken from five hundred (500) students’ respondents to examine the effect of alcoholic television adverts on students in the western region. With the aid of descriptive statistics, graphs, charts and tables were generated for the analysis. The analyses revealed that, majority (71.4%) of the students do not support television advertisement. It was brought to light that several behaviours ranging from vandalism, reckless behaviours, truancy, impaired thinking, and youth behaving violently in school are some of the effects of alcoholic advertisements on students. Based on the findings delineated in the foregoing paragraph, this study recommends that the regulatory body must also vet the advert content that portrays alcoholic products as harmless and socially acceptable to help reduce its negative impact on students’ education since education is the social institution through which society provides it members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills and cultural norms and values and must be protected. Students should be encouraged to watch less harmful television advertisements channels which will reduce the level of alcoholic information they absorb from television channels.
Keywords: AIDA theory, Abuse, Alcohol, Social Learning, Television, advertisement, tertiary students