Alcohol advertising in sports "fuels drinking culture" in Australia, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The study, undertaken by local and international researchers, found repeated exposure to alcohol advertising at venues and during media coverage "can have long-term effects on drinking attitudes".
"[There is] a positive and casual link between alcohol sponsorship and alcohol-related attitude," it said.
The study measured the attitudes of more than 100 participants while watching sporting events.
"What we showed is that alcohol advertising and sponsorship not only send a message directly encouraging people to drink, but tends to implicitly and/or unconsciously associate a product, like beer, within a specific context of going to the football or watching a sports match on television," co-author Professor Kerry O'Brien from Monash University said.
Study lead Dr Oulmann Zerhouni from the Parisien Laboratory of Social Psychology said "we also found that exposing people to an alcohol brand, and more strongly to a mainstream alcohol brand, leads to more positive attitudes towards alcohol more generally".
Scott Morrison has a beer at the NRL. Source: Getty
"Our results suggest that alcohol advertising and sponsorship exposure may change attitudes in an automatic fashion, because it doesn't require an individual to cognitively process the advertising stimuli."
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, alcohol ads can be broadcast on commercial television between noon and 3pm on school days, and from 8.30pm to 5am on any day. Alcohol ads can also be shown during sports programs on public holidays and weekends (starting from 6pm Friday).
The authors of the report claim that the alcohol industry accounts for roughly 20 per cent of all sport sponsorships internationally.
