Mapping outdoor alcohol advertising around waterways in an exploration of where and what the advertisements feature

BACKGROUND: In Western Australia (WA) social activities occur in aquatic environments where alcohol promotion and consumption may be prevalent creating an aquatic alcogenic environment. This poses a challenge for drowning prevention efforts. Restrictions on alcohol advertising placement near aquatic environments require an evidence-base of how prevalent alcohol outlet availability and promotion is in aquatic environments. We aimed to quantify the presence and content of outdoor alcohol advertising in metropolitan WA and map liquor outlet density and licensed venue proximity.

METHODS: An exploratory, cross-sectional, observational study investigated the geospatial characteristics of five WA coastal precincts. Digitised navigation maps were produced in ArcGIS. A modified online data collection application for outdoor advertising was used.

RESULTS: Across five precincts 520 advertisements were identified. Two-thirds (66.2 %, n = 344) included alcohol in the advertisements; of those, 13.4 % (n = 46) featured an aquatic location, most commonly the beach (89.1 %, n = 41). In three precincts, advertisements were on windows or building walls of on and off-licensed premises. One precinct featured no alcohol-based advertisements and on-licensed premises only (i.e., restaurants).

DISCUSSION: This is the first study to quantify the volume and content of alcohol advertisements specific to aquatic locations. It provides insights to inform future advocacy and policy efforts to tackle alcohol advertising and availability in and around aquatic environments.

CONCLUSION: Comprehensive and robust alcohol advertising regulation that effectively minimises community exposure to alcohol marketing in aquatic locations is vital, specifically: (i) restricting advertising of alcohol near waterways; and (ii) restricting advertisements that feature alcohol and aquatic locations/activities.