Disclosing Contents of Drinks: Experimental Test on Natural Consumption Behavior Abstract This application addresses broad Challenge Area (01) Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention and specific Challenge Topic, 01-AA-110: The Impact of Alcoholic Beverage Container Labels on Drinking-Related Behaviors and Beliefs. Protagonists of health promotion have pleaded for the disclosure of alcohol contents and drink sizes on alcohol beverage containers. Since drinkers generally ignore standard drink sizes (Devos-Comby &Lange, 2008), it is believed that labeling containers with their alcohol contents will enable consumers to better track their consumption and limit their drinking. Despite -- or maybe because of -- the obvious face value of this response to harmful drinking, researchers for the most part have failed to systematically test the effectiveness of these labels and supporting data is scarce. A limit to this approach may be that harmful drinking often happens in public establishments where drinks are prepared and served by bartenders in glasses that could not be directly labeled. Research shows that public venues where alcohol was consumed were more likely to be associated with driving while intoxicated because they were more likely accessed by car (Gruenewald, et al., 2002). Public premises serving alcohol constitute settings where drinkers are the least likely to control the alcohol content and size of their drinks and where labeling pouring containers would be the least effective. Yet disclosing alcohol-contents of beverages in public establishments by such information in menus could be clinically significant. We propose to develop and test brief communications of nutrition facts and alcohol contents that (a) individuals can effectively use to monitor their consumption, (b) can motivate them to drink moderately, and (c) could be required within bar and restaurant menus by future policies. Some states have already implemented regulations for establishments to disclose the caloric content of foods served. We propose to use and test a similar approach for alcoholic beverages. Information on nutrition facts and alcohol contents may receive only low scrutiny from consumers whose immediate goal is to consume alcohol, unless this information is accompanied by a persuasive message promoting drinking within recommended limits. Indeed, it is not enough to know that 16 fl. oz of draft beer contains 1 1/3 standard drinks to make the decision of how much to drink or when to stop. The drinker needs to know what represents moderate drinking (recommended daily and weekly limits) and be persuaded of the benefits of moderate drinking in order to adopt these limits. The literature on Message Framing (Rothman &Salovey, 1997) shows that health behavior rests largely on the appraisal of the gains and losses associated with each behavioral option. The theory is able to reliably predict, based on the type of health behavior advocated, whether a gain frame (stressing the benefits of the behavior promoted) or a loss frame (stressing the costs of not performing this behavior) is most effective. Because moderate drinking is a prevention behavior (prevent negative outcomes), stressing the benefits of moderate drinking will be most effective (Gerend &Cullen, 2008). This represents a paradigm shift from the typical negative, fear-based communications on the dangers of excessive drinking and other scare tactics, and may account for their low effectiveness. We predict that to be effective, information on alcoholic beverage contents will need three components: (1) the number of standard drinks contained in the beverage;(2) a recommendation for daily and weekly limits of alcohol intake;(3) a gain-framed message persuading consumers to observe these limits. During the first year of the research project we will develop and pre-test these components in systematic experimental designs conducted in controlled settings and in the field. Positive vs. negative frames will be generated and tested for their impact on drinking intentions. We will test the three components in a full factorial design that will vary the format of the alcohol content, the presence or absence of a recommendation for moderate drinking, and the presence or absence of a persuasive argument in fictional menus. During the second year, we will conduct a large-scale field experiment (N = 2,520 drinkers) testing the impact that the alcohol-content disclosure may have on natural consumption behavior. Using our well-established field methods (see for example, Clapp et al., 2007;Lange et al., 2006) we will enroll a general population of patrons, intent on drinking as they enter bars and restaurants and present them with four types communications for the alcohol-content disclosure of beverages served in public establishments. Pre- and post-intervention data will be collected, including participants'self-reported consumption and breath alcohol concentration samples. This field experiment will also provide data on the effectiveness of different disclosure strategies under various levels of natural drunkenness. Overall this research program will inform future policies for disclosing the contents of alcoholic beverages. Researchers and consumer groups have pushed the importance of labels for educating the public about serving sizes in order to help consumers avoid unwanted negative effects of alcohol. In many situations, however, drinkers do not pour their own drinks and labeling containers would not help them track their consumption. We propose to examine the impact of disclosing the contents of alcoholic beverages in bar and restaurant menus. Helping drinkers track their alcohol consumption in public establishments may directly affect one of the most significant dangers of alcohol: driving while intoxicated. The findings could be extended for alcohol container labeling.
Researchers and consumer groups have pushed the importance of labels for educating the public about serving sizes in order to help consumers avoid unwanted negative effects of alcohol. In many situations, however, drinkers do not pour their own drinks and labeling containers would not help them track their consumption. We propose to examine the impact of disclosing the contents of alcoholic beverages in bar and restaurant menus. Helping drinkers track their alcohol consumption in public establishments may directly affect one of the most significant dangers of alcohol: driving while intoxicated. The findings could be extended for alcohol container labeling.
