Women, Girls More Affected By Alcohol Advertisements, Study Says

Though images of bikini clad women holding beer on the beach may seem to more marketed towards the male consumer, studies now say that many drinking ads of this nature may have more of an impact on women.

While these advertisements may not be crafted for young women, that's who is seeing the affect of them, according to an editorial published on the Canadian Medical Association Journal website by senior associate editor Dr. Ken Flegel.

Dr. Flegel points out that girls as young as 13 are drinking in as high of numbers as boys of the same age, but are suffering larger health risks, which he says is cause for concern.

"This is a worrying issue for both genders, but there are some extra worries for girls," Dr. Flegel said to the Globe and Mail.

The study showed that girls between the ages of 12 and 20 were exposed to ads for beer and liquor, as often as women aged 21 to 34. When it came to sweet-flavored "low-alcohol refreshers," the researchers found that younger girls were 95 percent more exposed to advertising for those than women over age 21, according to the Globe and Mail.

The study also showed that those same girls surveyed were more likely to develop alcohol problems and continue to drink into adulthood because "exposure to alcohol advertising and affective reactions to those advertisements on television influence underage drinking and the development of alcohol-related problems."