Rotondo 1 Michelle Rotondo Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 5 December 2011 Do TV Shows Effect Teenagers Actions? TV programs have been shown to be very influential. A strong link exists between alcohol advertisements on TV and underage drinking. Alcohol advertisements become increasingly attractive and salient to adolescents between 10 and 14 years (Grube, 109). This is not a good statistic because it proves that the advertisements are targeting the wrong audience and inadvertently influencing teens to drinking. However, no one has studied whether or not the actual content of the TV shows have an effect on teenagers behaviors. Many popular shows on TV that teenagers watch show underage or binge drinking. Jersey Shore, Friday Night Lights, Glee, and Gossip Girl all show drinking in inappropriate ways. Regular viewers of any of those programs were about twice as likely to use tobacco or alcohol according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuses survey. (Goodwin, Teen Drinking, Smoking Higher Among Facebook Users). This is most likely due to the fact that scenes that display either underage or binge drinking are shown very prominently within the TV program which truly affects a teenagers behavior. Underage drinking is often treated humorously and its seriousness diminished (Grube, 107). Adolescents viewing underage drinking as a joke and not a serious issue are a serious problems and TV shows should be aware of that. TV shows should monitor how what they show effects teenagers impressions of the effects of alcohol. The extent to which TV programs show underage and binge drinking has an effect on teenager viewers behaviors and thoughts. Underage drinking and binge drinking are very crucial

Rotondo 2 and harmful ideas because they both have very bad consequences that follow. By age 14, 41 percent of children have had least one drink. (Focus Adolescent Services, Alcohol and Teen Drinking). Most television programs that have shown an excess of drinking on their shows are targeted towards teenagers. This shows a strong correlation between drinking shown in television programs and underage or binge drinking. TV shows that are known to show moral issues and good, clean content have been also known to show underage and binge drinking. This contradicts their normal views shown on the TV program. Although the scenes where drinking is shown doesnt directly cause underage drinking they are shown so prominently in the show that it sticks out to viewers, who are mostly teenagers and young viewers. Another negative thing about TV shows displaying underage and binge drinking is that the consequences of those actions are rarely shown. The fact that the great majority of televised alcohol portrayals show no overt consequences of drinking is significant (Grube, 106). This is an important issue because underage drinking is becoming more and more popular and it is starting to become the norm with teenagers. Instead of adding to the controversial issue and influencing teenagers to drinking, TV shows should do the opposite by showing the consequences of underage and binge drinking. Researching this topic was very interesting and eye opening. At first I thought I knew most of the information about this topic because I see it first hand, but once I got into researching it I realized that there was much more to it then I had originally thought. Looking through different sources I learned that there is a strong relationship between TV show content and the amount of underage and binge drinking. I was astonished to know some of the facts about how TV shows targeted towards young viewers are targeted towards the same audience that starts drinking at an early age. TV shows need to know that the content of their shows truly shape their viewers behaviors and thoughts about the issues presented. After my research, I began to search

Rotondo 3 for TV show video clips and picture of scenes where underage drinking or binge drinking are prominent and really stood out to the viewers. This included video clips and pictures from popular TV shows like, Jersey Shore, Friday Night Lights, Glee, and Gossip Girl. After collecting my videos and pictures I decided that I needed background music during those points in my visual essay to really drive my point across to the viewer of my visual essay. I picked songs that have to do with drinking and partying that would be popular and recognizable by the viewer. Through Windows Live Movie Maker, I then pieced together the information I wanted to include with pictures and video clips to enhance my points. Finally I added the finishing touches of animations and my background music to add to the overall video. This project was very enjoyable because along with learning about something new and interesting, I got to work with video clips and music to create a visual and rhetoric essay.

Rotondo 4 Works Cited "Focus Adolescent Services: Alcohol and Teen Drinking." Focus Adolescent Services: Help Your Teen and Heal Your Family. Web. Goodwin, Jenifer. "Teen Drinking, Smoking Higher Among Facebook Users: Survey." Philly.com. Health Day, 2 Nov. 2011. Web. Grube, Joel W. "Chapter 7: Television Alcohol Portrayals, Alcohol Advertising, and Alcohol Expectancies among Children and Adolescents." The Effects of the Mass Media on the Use and Abuse of Alcohol. By Susan Ehrlich. Martin and Patricia D. Mail. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1995. 105-11. Web.