BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES On social media, people are expected to disclose any sponsored content. However, celebrities who own alcohol brands and make posts promoting their brands may circumvent these disclosure policies, potentially exposing young audiences to alcohol marketing. This study examined the extent to which celebrities promoted their own alcohol brands on Instagram, whether they disclosed the content as sponsored, and whether the posts were visible to underage users. METHODS Through systematic Google searches, we identified 112 celebrities who own alcohol brands. We retrieved 85 673 of their Instagram posts published between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2023. Alcohol-brand posts were identified through text-pattern matching. We checked the accessibility of alcohol-brand posts to underage users using a simulated 15-year-old account. RESULTS Among 112 celebrities (mean age = 50.8 years; 72.3% male), 42 (37.5%) explicitly mentioned their brand in their Instagram bio, and 84 (75%) referenced their own alcohol brand in at least 1 post during the study period. Of the 85 673 total posts, 3.4% mentioned a celebrity’s alcohol brand. Concerningly, only 1.7% of these alcohol-brand posts included a clear disclosure in the caption and 98% (646/660) of sampled alcohol-brand posts were visible to a simulated 15-year-old account. CONCLUSIONS Celebrities’ posts about their own alcohol brands were common and accessible to underage users. Policymakers should implement stricter regulations on alcohol promotions on social media to protect adolescents from exposure to alcohol-related content.
Diress et al. (Mon,) studied this question.