Advertisement
Dublin: 8 °C Thursday 28 March, 2024
YouTube
let the jameson sink in

Pop music is making you drink

If research says it’s true…

DO YOU BRUSH your teeth with a bottle of jack? Do you sip Bacardi like it’s your birthday? Maybe it’s because you listen to too much pop music.

A recent study has found that almost a quarter of recent chart-topping hits reference alcohol in a largely glamorous light.

Not only that, but a large amount reference specific brands, with just four big names accounting for more than half of all mentions.

The study, carried out by a research team led by Dr. Michael Siegel from the Boston University School of Public Health, utilised Billboard magazine’s year-end charts from 2009-2011. Siegel and his team took a sample size from the most popular songs released each year under the genres pop, rock, country and urban (hip hop and rap) to analyse.

Out of 720 songs selected, Siegel and his colleagues found 167 contained references to alcohol, with 46 of these mentioning a specific brand. Patron, Hennessy, Grey Goose and Jack Daniel’s were present in over half of all brand name-drops.

The study also found that most references came from urban songs, with no alcohol brand mentions in rock songs. Beer was the dominant alcohol in country music, while a fun and consequence free portrayal of alcohol consumption was largely promoted throughout.

The researchers say the results are

alarming, because they suggest that popular music may be serving as a major source of promotion of alcohol use in general—and of the consumption of several specific brands in particular—to underage youth.

We suspect Rihanna is only responsible for 99% of all mentions.

tumblr_m81d92XrB11rxevt5o1_500 Tumblr Tumblr

11 great pieces of advice for your teenage self>

WATCH: Calvin Harris calls heckler a “daft f**king bitch”>