Under the influence of (alcohol)influencers? A qualitative study examining Belgian adolescents’ evaluations of alcohol-related Instagram images from influencers

ABSTRACT

Influencers are important socialization agents among adolescents. There are rising concerns that influencers glamorize their alcohol behaviors and promote brands on Instagram. While exposure to alcohol messages influences adolescents’ alcohol use, it remains unclear how adolescents evaluate influencers’ alcohol images. We conducted 10 focus group interviews with 47 adolescents (M_age = 16.21; SD = 1.22). Our results demonstrated that adolescents frequently encounter images of influencers who hold alcoholic beverages, provide positive reviews for brands, or promote their own beverages. Additionally, building on the Message Interpretation Process model, we examined how individuals affectively (i.e. message desirability) and cognitively (i.e. realism, similarity) evaluate these alcohol images. Our results suggest that adolescents enjoy viewing images of influencers who depicted positive alcohol-related outcomes, highlighted their luxurious lifestyles, and were transparent about their partnership with alcohol brands. Only upon explicitly encouraging them to think aloud about the realism of and similarity to these images; and through discussions with their friends, they became more skeptical and perceived influencers’ images to be inauthentic. Where these critical evaluations took place, the persuasive effects seemed to diminish. Overall, our findings suggest that peer-led discussions and think-aloud procedures may be promising tools for media literacy interventions.

IMPACT SUMMARY

Prior state of knowledge

Influencers use Instagram to memorialize alcohol drinking and recommend brands to adolescents. Exposure to alcohol images, however, has been demonstrated to influence offline alcohol cognitions and behaviors.

Novel contributions

Extending the Message Interpretation Process model, our qualitative study indicated that stylistic features and emotional appeals in influencers’ alcohol images drive affective evaluations, while the valence, setting, and commercial transparency determine cognitive evaluations. Critical cognitive evaluations overturn positive affective evaluations.

Practical Implications

The study showed that peer-led discussions and think-aloud procedures may be useful tools in media literacy trainings to activate adolescents’ critical cognitive evaluations. These cognitive evaluations would in turn enable adolescents to regulate their affective evaluations.

KEYWORDS:

• Influencers
• alcohol images
• message evaluations
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

The first author is funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (Fellowship: 11G2420N). We thankfully acknowledge the foundations’ support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Belgium has a lenient alcohol policy, allowing individuals from age 16 and up to buy and consume soft alcoholic beverages (i.e. beer and wine).

2. For an overview of the topic guide, see this link at the Center of Open Science: https://osf.io/6w2ez/?view_only=2e8ae90f67a745d79504648dac4d624b

3. For a detailed overview of the most important themes, codes, definitions and sample quotes, see this link at the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/6w2ez/?view_only=2e8ae90f67a745d79504648dac4d624b

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Foundations - Flanders (FWO) [11G2420N,11G2422N].

Notes on contributors

Sofie Vranken

Sofie Vranken (MA, 2018, KU Leuven) is a PhD fellow at the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research. Sofie’s research focuses on disentangling the unique role of different social media platforms and various socialization agents (peers – influencers) in adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors including the use of alcohol. To address her research topic, she focuses on sophisticated methods including content analytical research, survey research, qualitative interviews, eye-tracking and experimental research.

Kathleen Beullens

Kathleen Beullens (PhD, 2009, KU Leuven) is professor and coordinator of the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research. Her research focuses on the effects of different media uses (e.g., social media, video games, mobile phones) on children’s and adolescents’ well-being. As a researcher in media psychology, she aims to unravel the processes through which various forms of media use are associated with health-related outcomes (e.g., alcohol use, smoking).

Delphine Geyskens

Delphine Geyskens (MA, 2021, KU Leuven) obtained her master’s degree in Communication Sciences at KU Leuven. During her education, she conducted various studies in which she aimed to explore the role of media in substance use. She employed a range of methods including in-depth focus group interviews and cross-sectional research.

Jörg Matthes

Jörg Matthes (PhD, 2007, University of Zurich) is professor of Communication Science at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria, where he chairs the division of advertising research and media psychology. His research focuses on advertising effects, the process of public opinion formation, news framing and empirical methods.