Addressing Parental Supply of Alcohol to Teens: Development and Message Testing of the Keep Their Future Bright Campaign

ABSTRACT Issue Addressed Due to potential harm to the developing brain, alcohol is not recommended before age 18, even in small quantities. With parents being a key source of alcohol supply to their teenagers, changing parental attitudes towards underage drinking is key to reducing alcohol‐related harm in young people. This study provides an overview of the development and message testing of the ‘Keep Their Future Bright’ campaign, aimed at discouraging parents from supplying alcohol to children. Methods Phase 1—Development of message guide : Scoping activities included a literature review, qualitative interviews with 15 alcohol and other drug harm prevention advocates, and discourse analysis of 2227 text samples from media and other public sources. Data from eight focus groups ( n = 72) and an online survey with parents of teenagers ( n = 1728) were integrated with findings from scoping activities to create the message guide. Phase 2—Generation of campaign materials : these were informed by the message guide created in Phase 1. Phase 3—Message testing : Pre‐post national survey among parents to test message effectiveness ( n = 817). Results Phase 1 : Differences were identified between the views of alcohol and other drug harm prevention advocates and the dominant public narrative. Parents expressed concern about brain development, mental health, and the carcinogenic effects of alcohol. Phase 3 : After viewing the campaign, there were reductions in the proportion of parents who agreed that (1) it was acceptable to supply children with alcohol in the home and (2) intended to provide alcohol in the future. Compared to pre‐exposure, more parents agreed that underage alcohol consumption was associated with (1) disruptions to brain development, (2) poor mental health, (3) accidents, (4) embarrassing behaviour, (5) sexual assault and (6) risk of developing cancer. Conclusions The message testing demonstrated that emphasising the harms of moderate alcohol consumption and challenging perceptions that parental supply is protective was persuasive. So What? Evidence‐based communication strategies and public health campaigns are needed to address broader cultural perceptions and support long‐term behavioural change.