Do soap shows encourage teenage drinking?
Popular soap shows are awash with alcohol, according to a survey published in The Food Magazine. Alcohol featured in 18% of scenes shown during Hollyoaks, in over 17% of scenes shown during Coronation Street and in over 16% of scenes shown during EastEnders and Emmerdale. Home and Away did better, with alcohol limited to just 6.7% of screen time.* With a large proportion of teenage viewers there is concern that soap shows may be conditioning British teenagers to accept high alcohol consumption as the norm. Hollyoaks, which boasts that it is the UKs most watched teenage drama serial, goes out Monday to Friday at 6.30pm, right after the Simpsons. During the survey period alcohol appeared as the most dominant food group in Hollyoaks, appearing in almost 40% of background scenes. In contrast, dairy foods appeared as the dominant food group in less than 1% of shots. Cally Matthews, author of the study said, Soap shows are awash with scenes showing alcohol being consumed as part of a seeming
