Are rappers advertising alcohol to teenagers?

Whether they're passing the Patron, the Courvoisier or the Hennessy, rappers are promoting name brand booze to underage listeners, researchers in the U.S. have found.

P. Diddy signed a deal to promote Ciroc Vodka in 2007. (Seth Wenig/AP)Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that for every hour of hip-hop music that fans listen to, there are about three references to alcohol brands.

The study, published online in the journal Addiction, analyzed nearly 800 of the songs on the Billboard top 100 lists from 2005 to 2007. More than 21 per cent of the songs mentioned alcohol and a quarter of those mentioned a specific brand.

"Frequent exposure of young people to brand-name references in popular music may constitute a form of advertising and could encourage substance use among adolescents," said study author Brian Primack.

The research found that the brands mentioned in rap music are named as favourites by underage drinkers, especially women.

The authors said companies that sell alcohol don't typically seek out rappers to mention their product. However, distillers and rappers have entered into deals after the song has been released.

This was the case with Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy's hit "Pass the Courvoisier," released in 2002. Cognac sales jumped nearly 19 per cent the year after it came out and France's Allied Domecq entered into a promotional deal with the rappers.

Some rappers have their own alcohol brands and are promoting them in their songs, including Lil' Jon (Little Jonathan Wineries), Ludacris (Conjure Vodka), Jay-Z (Armadale Vodka), Snoop Dogg (Landy Cognac), TI (Remy Martin Cognac) and P. Diddy (Ciroc Vodka).

So, are rappers deliberately advertising alcohol, potentially to underage drinkers? Or are references to booze just a way of establishing a rep? Let us know what you think.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)