off-premise outlets (convenience stores, supermarkets, liquor stores and drug stores). They found that liquor stores had the highest number of exterior and interior advertisements, with the majority being for beer; independently owned outlets had the most advertising and, specifically, significantly more advertising below three feet from the floor where it was likely to be clearly visible to children; and some evidence of ethnic targeting of alcohol advertisements, by using cultural icons and models of specific ethnic groups, particularly for exterior alcohol advertisements targeting Latinos.
In a study of the correlates of the in-store promotions for beer, based on analysis of supermarket scanner data from 64 market areas across the USA, Bray et al. (2007) found that large-volume units are more likely to be promoted than smaller package sizes. Based on evidence from previous market research that has shown in-store merchandising and promotions can substantially increase beer sales and that purchasing large package sizes may increase total consumption, they concluded that the prevalence of sales promotions for large-volume beer packages may result in increased beer consumption. While this study was limited to a single product type (beer), it is likely that a similar effect would be found for other forms of alcohol (such as ready-to-drink (RTDs) or alcopops, which are generally sold in four-packs, six- packs and cartons) and particularly popular with young people.
Significantly, several recent studies have examined the association between ownership of alcohol promotional items (i.e. the types of branded products that are frequently offered as premiums in alcohol POS promotions) and drinking behaviours. These studies have consistently reported an association between own- ership of promotional items and alcohol consumption in both cross-sectional (Hurtz et al. 2007) and longitudinal studies, with the latter finding that ownership of alcohol merchandise by non-drinkers at baseline is associated with initiation and consump- tion at follow-up (McClure et al. 2006, Henriksen et al. 2008). Given the propensity of young people today to be particularly brand conscious (Beaudoin et al. 2003, Chaplin and John 2005), this is an important area for policy makers.
In 2003, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognised the significance of POS marketing for young people. It released a report on an observational study of POS alcohol marketing conducted during 2000