National Differences in Alcohol Advertising Regulation Systems: A Comparison of the United States, France and China
Open Access
- Author:
- Whittet, Emily
- Area of Honors:
- Advertising/Public Relations
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. George Anghelcev, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. George Anghelcev, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Susan Mary Strohm, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- french advertising
alcohol advertising
advertising
international advertising
chinese advertising
u.s. advertising - Abstract:
- A country’s culture plays an inarguably large role in both how advertising regulations are created and how well they will effectively control a nation’s advertising. Using Gao’s advertising regulation comparison framework, this paper analyzes the alcohol advertising regulation systems of three countries: the United States, France, and China, beginning with a discussion on each country’s culture (Gao 2005). This cultural frame is then used as a backdrop upon which to discuss both the governmental and self-regulatory alcohol advertising codes in each of the countries, looking at both content restrictions and media regulation. In order to gauge the possible connections between these regulations and alcohol-related health trends and industry statistics, the rates of liver cirrhosis, alcohol production and alcohol imports/exports are discussed. This study suggests the vast importance of cultural context analysis in understanding how and why populations react to advertising regulations. Speculations are made about the potential relationship between regulations and populations, a connection supposition most directly seen in France. The French alcohol advertising regulation system controls the greatest amount of specific regulations compared to the other two countries, both on media and content. From the time this regulation system was implemented, the rates of alcohol consumption and liver cirrhosis have massively decreased. The significance of culture is considered in context of the looming possibility of globalized advertising regulation standardization. Due to the specific nature of each country’s culture, this paper concludes that future international standardization of alcohol advertising regulations would be difficult to achieve.