Another 600,000 nonlethal injuries also are alcohol related, as are nearly 700,000 student-to-student alcohol-related assaults.

Annually, 150,000 students develop alcohol-related health problems and more than 2 million students (ages 18 to 24) drove under the influence of alcohol in the previous year.

In the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), half of all Americans older than 12 were reported to be current alcohol users. By 13 years of age, 6 1/2 percent of the population is already drinking, and by age 21, more than 20 percent of these young adults are heavy drinkers. With the above information in place, it came as no shock to read that the more young adults are exposed to alcohol advertising, the more likely they are to drink.

In a two-year study, University of Connecticut professor Leslie B. Snyder and colleagues reported on the effects of advertising on 15- to 26-year-olds. The students were randomly selected from 24 media markets throughout the United States. Published in the Jan. 2, 2006, Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, "Effects of Alcohol Advertising Exposure on Drinking among Youth," the study is, according to Georgetown University professor David H. Jernigan, Ph.D., "the first time that self-reported exposure has been complemented an objective measure of how much alcohol advertising is available in the media environment in which young people live." Snyder and her team obtained market data on alcohol advertising expenditures per capita in each of the geographic areas and then analyzed the data with respect to its relationship to self-reported alcohol advertising exposure in the prior month. They gathered data on four occasions, between the years 1999 and 2001, starting with more than 1,800 respondents and ending with just under 600 respondents.

Snyder, et al., found that youth exposed to more alcohol advertisements drank more than those who had less exposure. They found that for every additional advertisement reportedly seen, there was a concomitant increase of 1 percent in the number of drinks consumed. They also reported that, "Youth in markets with greater alcohol advertising expenditures drank more," and that "each additional dollar spent per capita raised the number of drinks consumed 3 percent." "Given that there was an impact on drinking using an objective measure of advertising expenditures," the study revealed, "the results are inconsistent with the hypotheses that a correlation between advertising exposure and drinking could be caused entirely selective attention on the part of the drinkers." They further stated, "The results also contradict claims that advertising is unrelated to youth drinking amounts; that advertising at best causes brand switching, only affects those older than the legal drinking age or is effectively countered current education efforts." Parents, health advocates, and health care providers must come together to face these facts and their implications. Just as common sense would inform us that Joe Camel could not have had any other purpose than to attract a young, cartoon-oriented, pre-and-early-smoking audience, so the billions of dollars that are spent showing youthful, healthy drinkers looking successful and happy are also geared to attract potential and actual adolescent and young adult drinkers.

The juggernaut is already let loose. Advertising money is budgeted and spent according to projected revenues. Until public health policy overcomes corporate interests -- which has occurred, to some extent, in restrictions on smoking advertisements -- I'm afraid all we can do is talk with our children about how these ads work; teach them to question what they are told by mass marketers; and show them, by example, that success comes from smart and hard work, not from choosing the right alcoholic beverage.

Allan J. Comeau, Ph.D., is a psychologist on the clinical faculty at UCLA and a former president of the Inland Southern California Psychological Association. Write him at 2001 S. Barrington Ave., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90025, or visit www.drcomeau.com.