Ohio College Initiative to Reduce High Risk Drinking:

Environmental Strategies

• Environmental Strategies Intro
• Offering alcohol-free social, extracurricular, and public service options
• Creating a health-promoting normative environment
• Restricting the marketing and promotion of alcoholic beverages both on and off campus
• Limiting alcohol availability
• Increasing enforcement of laws and policies

Strategy #3 - Restricting the marketing and promotion of alcoholic beverages both on and off campus

Alcohol marketing and promotion within campus communities is often overwhelming. Student newspapers, sporting events, special events, and other common campus fixtures often inundate students and others in the campus community with alcohol advertising, much of it promoting high risk use. Establishments that serve alcohol often encourage high risk drinking through drink promotions, happy hours, theme nights, and other activities.

Abundant research shows that marketing works, particularly in repetition. College campuses are particularly attractive to the alcohol industry, since younger consumers are less likely to have developed brand devotion and high risk drinking is believed (erroneously) to be normative behavior.

Campus community coalitions have implemented various tools to change this environment and limit alcohol marketing and promotion, sometimes in concert with the alcohol industry and establishments that sell alcohol.

Examples of this strategy include:

Limiting or eliminating advertising:
Reducing or eliminating alcohol advertising in student newspapers, pre-sporting event radio shows, and other avenues popular to students.

Ending sponsorships:
Prohibiting alcohol industry sponsorship of special events, athletic events and teams, and physical facilities.

Reducing promotions:
Limiting the rate of drinking establishment promotions, like happy hours and drinking contests, that encourage high risk drinking.

Proceed to Strategy #4 >>