SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING AND BEHAVIOUR CHANGE OF ALCOHOL CONSUMERS IN CALABAR, NIGERIA

Abstract

The excess consumption of alcohol causes adverse health and social consequences. Alcohol
use is associated with increased risk of acute health conditions. Harmful use of alcohol can
cause high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis, some cancers (mouth, intestine and breast) and
cardiovascular diseases. It is also the cause of several accidents, marital problems and other
social problems. Babor and Higgin-Biddle (2001) stated that most of the harms associated
with alcohol use occur among people who are not dependent on alcohol but drink above
recommended levels. In the whole world, 3.3 million deaths every year results from harmful
use of alcohol, also in the age group 20-39 years, approximately 25 percent of total deaths are
alcohol-induced (WHO, 2015). In 2017, a 35 year old man and friend of a leading Nigerian
musician „Davido‟ died after consuming ten „tequila‟ shots in a drinking competition on his
birthday (Punch, 2017).
Visits to drinking bars across Calabar Metropolis reveals that most persons, many of
who are university students, spend their evening (especially weekends) in drinking parlours
and wine bars, consuming alcohol. These persons are influenced to drink alcohol excessively
due to aggressive marketing by alcohol manufacturers, (Shaikh, Pathak & Kapilashrami,
2015). Other causes of alcohol consumption are social norms, the urge to make and sustain
friendship, and peer pressure. Most alcohol consumers engage in this behaviour because they
are not aware of the harm they can cause to themselves and/or their relatives.
The key to improving health lies in our ability to change harmful behaviour.
Approximately four in five drinkers would decrease their risk of death if they reduced their
drinking by one unit of alcohol per week, (OECD, 2015). Behaviour change can be achieved
through social marketing interventions, where deeply held beliefs or habits are challenged in
order to influence the status quo. Social marketing interventions aimed at changing harmful
alcohol consumption can be carried out through traditional face to face or through online
media channels. Online channels such as social media posses several advantages, which
include availability, confidentiality, flexibility, low cost, ease of access, comfort and many
other advantages not obtained in traditional face to face media channels.
Social Media are web-based communications tools that enable people to interact with
each other by both sharing and consuming information, (Nation, 2017). Since the advent of
social media, young adults have been early adopters and voracious users of these tools,
(Purcell,
Smith & Zickuhr, 2010). Young adults are immersed in social media such as Facebook and
Twitter, (Lernhardt, 2005).