In the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day 2006, MEAS has issued an appeal to adults not to buy drinks for persons under eighteen during the St. Patrick’s festival long weekend.  The appeal is the theme of the latest phase of the ‘Is Your Drinking Affecting Their Thinking?’ campaign which is being promoted via a radio advertising campaign complimented by a newspaper advertising campaign.

The initial phase of the “Is Your Drinking Affecting Their Thinking?” campaign, launched in June 2004, highlighted the vital role parents of under-18s play in determining the attitude of their under-age sons and daughters to alcohol consumption (click here).

A subsequent phase of the campaign in September 2004 MEAS challenged parents and young people to review their attitudes to drink in the context of celebration of exam results (click here).

A third phase of the initiative was undertaken in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day and Easter 2005 (click here).

The ‘Is Your Drinking Affecting Their Thinking?’ campaign has been informed by research undertaken on underage drinking in Ireland by Behaviour and Attitudes Marketing Research Limited, on behalf of MEAS. The research included focus group studies with parents of teens, separate focus group studies with teenagers, and a nationwide quota-controlled survey of four hundred 12-17 year olds.