Patrón Zone: Study Finds That Musicians Reference Top-Shelf Drinks Most

Drake learned on his last album that "Hennessy and enemies is one hell of a mixture," but researchers have learned something else about Henn: musicians reference it more in their lyrics more than other alcohol brands.

Yesterday, a study was published at the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracking statistics from Billboard's most popular songs lists in 2009, 2010, and 2011. It revealed that Hennessy, Grey Goose, Jack Daniels, and Patron made up over 50 percent of alcohol brand mentions in songs that reference alcohol. Pop stars definitely like the good stuff.

The report was published online by Substance Use and Misuse and the researchers used every song listed in the categories Pop, Hot 100, Hot Country, Hot R&B/Hip Hop, and Rock to make up its sample of 720 songs. 167 songs (23.2 percent) of the songs mentioned alcohol, while 46 (6.4 percent) nodded towards specific brands.

Patron sent me an email that claims they currently do not have any sponsorships with specific musicians and do not pay any musicians to reference their brand in lyrics.

In the press release, the statistics are listed, but then the information becomes a bit unfocused and even preachy. After identifying how frequently brands are referenced in the Billboard sample, the researchers explain that almost all alcohol references in music positively describe the substance (obviously, The Weeknd was not part of this sample). Then the focus shifts towards describing the relationship between alcohol references in entertainment media and youth consumption. It even begins to editorialize in the end by stating "public health efforts may be necessary to reduce youth exposure to these positive messages about alcohol use."

Even if proper research was conducted by CAMY, the report comes across as lobbying for more alcohol education and research funding. This is especially noticeable in the light editorialization at the end of the report, "If these [media] exposures are found to influence youth drinking behavior, then further public health efforts must be focused on youth exposure to alcohol portrayals in popular music."

Yes, of course there is a correlation between alcohol marketing and youth awareness of the substance. And yes, I do believe there should be more alcohol education and attempts to increase media literacy in schools. There is an exhausting amount of research boosting this and the Johns Hopkins press release notes that there are, "14 long-term studies that show a correlation between mass media and youth consumption." At the same time, it seems suspect that a study meant to identify brands would split its focus amongst objective data and subjective thoughts about youth exposure to adult themes.

According to Michael Siegel, MD, MPH, professor at the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, the goal of the study was "just to identify the brands most frequently referenced in popular music."

He went on to say "We are also conducting research on brand-specific alcohol consumption among underage youth … this study was a preliminary look at the prevalence of alcohol brand mentions." The future goal is to investigate if there's a correlation between the brands with the most mentions in popular music and the brands preferred by underage youth drinkers.

Other people don't accept this, as it could make the research sound pointed with ulterior motives of demonizing the content of popular music. I spoke with Frank Coleman, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at the Distilled Spirits Council trade association, and he said "we regard it as utter trash." He also described this study in less positive lights:

This so-called ‘study’ is a shameful waste of taxpayer dollars that conveniently ignores the fact that federal statistics show underage drinking is at all-time lows. If Jernigan [director of CAMY] has a bone to pick, it is with artists who are protected by the First Amendment, and he should say so. Instead he recycles scientifically laughable conclusions, all the while lobbying for more Obamacare funding from health bureaucrats, who frankly seem unable to identify drivel when it is as plain as day.

Siegel countered in an email that, "I don't see what we are doing as splitting our focus between collecting data and suggesting solutions to an unproven problem, but instead, I see us as identifying a potential public health problem and then making it clear to the reader what the potential public health program implications are of this research."

The background evidence that marketing influences youth behavior is central to the universities' research. If previous research did not show a connection among adverts, marketing, and consumption, then it would be irrelevant to study alcohol brand mentions in pop music.

So CAMY may have properly identified that rappers and pop sars prefer top-shelf liquor over Popov and those giant plastic jugs of lighter fluid cheap alcohol. The important thing to take away from this study, however, is that while we know mass media can influence adolescent drinking behavior, there are specific venues like song lyrics that have not been adequately examined as a strong influencer of youth decision-making. Lifestyle-focused brands like Patron may have far reaching effects in media that has not been properly analyzed yet.

Opinions and information get a bit muddled while talking to both trade associations and public health researchers that rely on government funding. Siegel says he and his team are in "no way threatening to demonize popular music or attack free speech." Rather, we should become more aware of the connections between alcohol companies and popular artists and how they're interactions may influence music. It's unlikely that pop stars will stop popping champagne any time soon.