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(AP) -- Popular marketing campaigns that try to curb college binge drinking by easing peer pressure among students are a failure, according to a new study.
A report released Wednesday by the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study found that alcohol abuse -- by a few measures -- increased at some campuses that employ what's called "social norms" campaigns to reduce binge drinking. A proponent of the marketing efforts immediately took issue with the findings.
In social norms marketing, posters and fliers are put up around campuses with messages and statistics that show students who drink to excess are the exception, not the rule. The idea is to help students who drink to fit in feel less peer pressure to do so.
A poster with the slogan: "Most students at (name of the college) have five or fewer drinks when they party," is an example of the marketing style, the report said.
Many colleges have adopted the campaigns since the mid-1990s, subsidized by alcohol manufacturers and various government agencies which have spent $8 million on the campaigns nationwide, the study said.
Social norms marketing "looks great and it's not expensive to do," said Henry Wechsler, the director of the Harvard study. "The only problem is that it doesn't seem to work. It's a feel good program."
The report surveyed drinking patterns on 98 campuses, 37 of which have used social norms programs for one year. It measured for alcohol abuse in seven different ways, such as having 20 or more drinks in the past month and drinking 10 or more times in the past month. But no improvement in habits was found on social norms campuses by any of the measures, the study said.
A report released Wednesday by the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study found that alcohol abuse -- by a few measures -- increased at some campuses that employ what's called "social norms" campaigns to reduce binge drinking. A proponent of the marketing efforts immediately took issue with the findings.
In social norms marketing, posters and fliers are put up around campuses with messages and statistics that show students who drink to excess are the exception, not the rule. The idea is to help students who drink to fit in feel less peer pressure to do so.
A poster with the slogan: "Most students at (name of the college) have five or fewer drinks when they party," is an example of the marketing style, the report said.
Many colleges have adopted the campaigns since the mid-1990s, subsidized by alcohol manufacturers and various government agencies which have spent $8 million on the campaigns nationwide, the study said.
Social norms marketing "looks great and it's not expensive to do," said Henry Wechsler, the director of the Harvard study. "The only problem is that it doesn't seem to work. It's a feel good program."
The report surveyed drinking patterns on 98 campuses, 37 of which have used social norms programs for one year. It measured for alcohol abuse in seven different ways, such as having 20 or more drinks in the past month and drinking 10 or more times in the past month. But no improvement in habits was found on social norms campuses by any of the measures, the study said.