Alcohol as a Harmful Substance - Essay Example

CRITICAL REVIEW BY COURSE: INSTRUCTOR: INSTITUTION: DATE: СRITIСАL RЕVIЕW This article discusses the objective of the study which is to establish the number of US adolescents who are exposed to the different types of alcohol through popular music. It is believed that most US adolescents listen to modern music which is mostly associated with alcohol brands. Many business people tend to use artists to advertise their products, the alcohol industry is also not left behind with regards to this form of advertising. From this article, it is evident that after an alcohol brand is inference, its sale to increase by over 25%, from this study therefore, alcohol brand appearance in any music video, there is an increased sale of alcohol, for instance the less expensive since it is the one most teenagers can afford. It is therefore clear that celebrity advertising is an effective method to improve the sales of a particular product. Business people tend to ignore the damage that this kind of advertising to the young people which is sad since this young people are tomorrow’s leaders. Since most United States teenagers tend to listen to modern music, their involvement in alcohol abuse is therefore high as a result of the kind of information they obtain from the music. INTRODUCTION Alcohol is a harmful substance and has the following effects on human health when abused; causes cancer, brain damage, alcohol causes impotence in men and infertility in women and mental health ( Agabio, R. 2013). Apart from these health impacts alcohol abuse also has social effects which include crime and relationship damage among friends and families. These are among the reasons why governments come up with rules and regulations to control teenage alcohol abuse. High mortality rate is mostly contributed to by alcohol consumption either through suicides or accidents among them. According to Thompson, R. and Auslander, W. (2007), most teenagers do not seem to care after they engage in drinking in that they will drive while drunk after a night of ‘having fun’, which might lead to an accident killing the victims or the passers-by or both. In the United States alone, alcohol related deaths are high as compared to other killers in the state among the young people (Tanner-Smith, E. and Risser, M. 2016). Regardless of the harmful effects that alcohol depicts, its use is high among the US adolescents which results in an increase in the number of teens that use alcohol through the years. Factors contributing to alcohol abuse include an individual’s surrounding like; an impoverished environment, relationship within the family together with personal factors for instance personality disorder, wealth and suicidal behavior, Bracken, B., Rodolico, J., & Hill, K. (2013). On the other hand, previous studies propose that alcohol abuse could be contributed through publicity to a given mass media representation of alcohol in form of movies, music or advertisements be amongst the strongest threat factors for adolescent alcohol abuse ( McStay, A. 2010). Most movies and films in modern world encourage the use of alcohol especially among the young people which has led the young people to experiment the use of alcohol. In these scenes young people are portrayed while enjoying alcohol. This particular research focuses on Alcohol brand appearances in US popular music which happens to be the current alcohol-related media publicity. In the current music industry, most artists find it appealing to produce their music with scenes containing different alcohol brands, Clayton, R., & Ritter, C. (1985). These will affect the way that teenagers view alcohol and as a result may want to experiment since they are tender and vulnerable. It is from this music that teenagers find it stylish to participate in alcohol abuse, for this reason, the community should find ways to educate the young stars in the community on the impacts of alcohol abuse as mentioned above Sagy, S. (2014). The appearance of alcohol brands has increased over time; hence the main aim for this study was to evaluate the appearance of alcohol brands in modern popular songs in the United States. METHODOLOGY The author of the article used the Billboard newspaper to categorize the majority popular songs in the United States. There are other news papers that identify songs the same way for instance, the NPR 100. From the NPR 100, the author could obtain the same results for the research or even better. The author could have considered two or more sources of data; The Billboard newspaper instead of considering a multiple of newspapers instead of limiting him/herself to one source. The author considered songs in the years between 2005-2007, with a sample of 793 songs. This does not give the correct results intended for the study since from 2007, a lot has changed with regards to the music industry and as result, music that was considered to be famous in 2007 will not be the same in today’s industry. For the selected sample, coding was performed on the lyrics of the song to determine the references of alcohol or alcohol appearance in the music. If the author considered data up to date, the research results could be different considering that currently the appearance of alcohol in music is very high as compared to ten years when the research was carried out hence the sample would increase and give better research outcomes. Due to this, the researcher could use sampling to select the music that contains alcohol appearances which could be both effective and less costly as compared to coding whish the author used. The author applied grounded theory to analyze data due to; there was no previous study on the same hence lack of any theoretical work in this area and his /her goal to obtain an comprehensive evaluation of potential textual meaning. From the above discussions, the aim of the study is not to obtain the in-depth evaluation of textual meaning but to rather determine Alcohol brand appearances in US popular music. This could be easily determined using the cultural theory which differentiates between contemporary and classical music. Hence the analysis used by the research is not appropriate for the study. The study has various strengths and limitations. Some of the strengths of the study include; the main strength of the appearance of alcohol brands in music is the government. If there were rules against this kind of advertisement, the spread of the use of alcohol among teenagers who are the most affected will not be high. The limitations include the fact that the author considered only the United States for the study. Appearance of alcohol brands affects the music industry worldwide hence it is important to consider how this affects teenagers in other parts of the world. The author does not recognize these strengths and limitations of the study. The strengths and limitations are important especially when considering a study between nations. CONCLUSION This study tries to demonstrate that when alcohol is referenced in popular music, most teenagers tend to abuse alcohol as a result; the study is successful in obtaining its objective. From the study, there is significance between appearances of alcohol brands in music and alcohol abuse among teenagers. In addition, from the study, it is evident that brand references were commonly related with one’s way of life frequently characterized by undignified sexual activity, prosperity, merriment and aggression. Since both brand acknowledgment and confidently portrayed substance use are great predictors of adolescent substance use, it may be significant to assess the relations between brand-name alcohol references in popular music with clinically significant alcohol use outcome. This could help determine the possible effects of the alcohol brand to an individual especially teenagers. The government should also come up with some rule and regulations on the appearance of alcohol brands on music so as to discourage artists from displaying alcohol in their music. This conclusion is based on the research findings. RECOMMENDATIONS Additional research should be conducted considering other states and the period since the research was conducted. This is because the study was only for the United States and it is evident that the current music affects all states worldwide and also the music has improved since the study was performed. This would also enable the research develop the best conclusion from the study from the large sample to be considered. The governments of the US should come up with a rule to prohibit the appearance of alcohol brands in music in that they would introduce legal consequences to those who defy the rule. OVERALL CRITIQUE This study was an in-depth research with enough information for any researcher looking to develop a research problem from the same. For the better part of the research; it was well in black and white and well prepared for the study. There was a requirement for a little review of the text to build up the circumstances of the research since it was last performed in 2007. The article was a little difficult in reporting of data because of the complicated statistical methods the author used. In general, it was a very remarkable, important contribution to the field of research. REFERENCES Abraham, A., & Roman, P. (2012). Availability of medications for the treatment of alcohol use disorders: Data from US specialty treatment systems. Journal Of Substance Abuse Treatment, 43(3), e13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2012.08.070 Bracken, B., Rodolico, J., & Hill, K. (2013). Sex, Age, and Progression of Drug Use in Adolescents Admitted for Substance Use Disorder Treatment in the Northeastern United States: Comparison With a National Survey. Substance Abuse, 34(3), 263-272. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2013.770424 Clayton, R., & Ritter, C. (1985). The Epidemiology of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Among Adolescents. Advances In Alcohol & Substance Abuse, 4(3-4), 69-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j251v04n03_04 Crawley, R., Knight, D., Becan, J., & Flynn, P. (2014). Problem behaviors and criminal thinking among adolescents in residential substance abuse treatment. Drug And Alcohol Dependence, 140, e40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.02.131 McStay, A. (2010). Digital advertising. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Fein, G. (2015). Psychiatric Comorbidity in Alcohol Dependence. Neuropsychology Review, 25(4), pp.456-475. Sagy, S. (2014). Preventing Drug Abuse among Children and Adolescents: Where Does the Salutogenic Approach Direct Us?. Health, 06(07), 541-548. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/health.2014.67073 Survey on alcohol and medicine abuse among adolescents at four schools in Greater Buenos Aires. (2014). Archivos Argentinos De Pediatria. http://dx.doi.org/10.5546/aap.2014.eng.504 Tanner-Smith, E. and Risser, M. (2016). A meta-analysis of brief alcohol interventions for adolescents and young adults: variability in effects across alcohol measures. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 42(2), pp.140-151. Thompson, R. and Auslander, W. (2007). Risk factors for alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents in foster care. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 32(1), pp.61-69. Read More