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The fact that St. Patrick's Day (SPD) celebration drinking occurs during a specified, public, and socially-acceptable time frame which spans the better part of a day and evening makes it an important time to understand and attempt to influence celebration drinking behaviors among young adults. SPD has been identified as the celebration during which college students consume more alcohol than any other point during the school year. Intervention opportunities can be more successful with an understanding of the factors associated with alcohol consumption at specific times on particular celebrations. This study examined the factors associated with celebration drinking at different time periods on SPD which included perceived descriptive and injunctive norms, the numbers of close friends and acquaintances present, social media relationships, demographic variables, past drinking behavior, and intent to drink on SPD at the three time points of interest. Findings showed variability in the predictive factors on SPD celebration drinking at different times of the day. The theoretical and practical intervention implications of the findings are discussed.

This experiment investigated the effects of message framing (gain vs. loss) and religious rhetoric (religious vs. non-religious) on the expression of anti-alcohol civic intentions with a sample (N = 80) of Palestinian young adults. Results showed that the main effects of message framing (gain > loss) and religious rhetoric (non-religious > religious) on anti-alcohol civic intentions were significant. Furthermore, the study showed that viral behavioral intentions were strongly and significantly associated with expressing anti-alcohol civic intentions, with larger explanatory power for gain-framed PSAs that used a religious rhetoric. Additionally, a serial mediation model showed that the effect of religious rhetoric on anti-alcohol civic intentions was successfully mediated by the serial combination of attitudes toward the PSA and viral behavioral intention for gain-framed PSAs, but not for loss-framed PSAs. Findings are discussed within the framework of persuasion models.

While federal regulations and alcohol industry self-regulation have been exhorting alcohol advertisers to include warnings, such as legal drinking age, on alcohol advertisements, it is rare to see this practice on social media. This study investigated the effects of warning conspicuity and warning-ad claim integration on under-drinking-age youth's reactions to beer brand posts on social media (i.e., Instagram) and explicated the underlying mechanisms. The findings demonstrate that large-sized warnings (versus small-sized warnings) and integrated warnings (versus nonintegrated warnings) attract more visual attention, respectively. When warnings are integrated to the focal claims of the brand posts, a big-sized warning evokes greater state reactance than a small-sized one. However, when the warning is separated from the claim, a small-sized warning triggers higher reactance than a big-sized one. Underage participants' state reactance mediates the interaction effect of warning conspicuity and warning integration on brand attitudes and intentions to interact with the brand posts, which in turn affect their intentions to drink alcohol, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of social media marketing of alcoholic beverages using a 2 (likes: low vs. high) × 2 (shares: low vs. high) × 3 (display ad type: alcohol ad vs. antibinge drinking PSA vs. local bank) × 6 (status update repetitions) experimental design. The study examines how evaluations of alcohol marketing status updates and display advertisements predict social media users’ intentions to consume alcohol, as a function of message virality and display ad type. Participants’ viral behavioral intentions (intentions to like, share, and comment on) for status updates were strongest in predicting intentions to consume alcohol, and this relationship was strongest when the Facebook status update had high likes and shares. The article argues that alcohol marketing on social media reflects a social norm of alcohol consumption, which leads users to consume more alcoholic drinks. Findings are discussed within the framework of persuasion theories and policy changes regarding regulation of alcohol marketing on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]