Center on Media and Child Health

Music Lyrics: How Much Substance Use?

The following was written by guest blogger Dr. Brian Primack, University of Pittsburgh researcher and author of the new study Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs in Popular Music.

Let me start out by emphasizing what this article was not: it does not show the effect of music lyrics on young people.  It was just a content analysis.  Still, this is an important starting point.  The next step will be to conduct more careful research that actually tries to determine what effects – if any – musical lyrics have on substance use behavior.

Our main findings were that about one third of popular songs have some reference to substance use.  Because music is so popular, this translates into substantial exposure – we estimate that the average young person will be exposed to 84 music references to substance use a day, or 30,000 references a year.

Although as I mentioned this study does not equate that exposure with behavior, this large exposure is worth considering.  It may have implications for substance use education, for instance.  If young people are hearing 84 references a day to substance use, most of which glamorize it, what kind of effect can we hope to have from a few hours each year of “anti-drug” education?  A more practical and empowering approach may be to teach young people to analyze and evaluate the messages they hear in media regarding substance use.  This approach – sometimes called “media literacy” – may help young people doubt the veracity of these messages, which after all are there to sell music and not to “tell it as it is.”

Another important finding from our study was that there are very different patterns in different musical genres regarding both (1) what kind of substance use is portrayed; and (2) what that substance use is associated with. Rap music portrayed a lot of marijuana.  Country music portrayed alcohol, but not marijuana.  Rock music often showed negative effects of substance use (like addiction).  Country music often portrayed substance use with humor. 

These kinds of findings lead to more questions.  Does the context matter?  Is a reference to substance use more likely to cause a change in behavior if it is associated with particular consequences?  We would probably imagine that young people would be more likely to model substance use behaviors if they look fun or rewarding.  But, that being said, other research has shown that the context might not matter so much – in particular, Dalton, Sargent, et al. showed that smoking in movies is associated with adolescent smoking *regardless* of the context!  What will be the answer with music?

Speaking of smoking in movies, some feel that music is probably not as compelling, since it is auditory and not visual.  On the other hand, music exposure is much larger than overall movie exposure, and music is famous for being linked to adolescent identity.  When Kurt Cobain committed suicide, there was a rash of copy-cat suicides.  If young people were willing to follow him to the grave, might some also have been influenced by the substance use he portrayed in his music?

Hip-Hop, Sex, and Gender Dynamics

A recent New York Times article explored a 3 year study of the hip-hop club scene in NY city.  Munoz-Laboy et al observed dancing and behavior at these clubs and ran interviews with young men and women.  They were surprised to find that even with the sexual and often misogynistic overtones of the music, young women made sure that they were the ones in charge of their bodies on the dance floor.

Rap Videos and Risk Behaviors

A new study by Peterson and Wingood et al found that "African-American female adolescents who spend more time watching rap music videos are more likely to participate in high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking and sex with multiple partners, to test positive for marijuana, and to have a negative body image."

• See abstract
• See press release
• See full text

This study follows up on Wingood's previous research with the same study population, where it was found that the teens who frequently watched rap videos were 3 times more likely to have hit a teacher, 2.5 times more likely to have been arrested, and twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners compared to infrequent viewers. Frequent rap video viewers were also 1.5 times as likely to have acquired a new STD, used drugs, or consumed alcohol. 

Tweens Get Their Music from TV

Alloy Media + Marketing estimates that pre-teens spend $30 million of their own money annually, and influence the spending of $126 million of their parents' money.  Their music purchases include pre-packaged pop sensations, often from television shows, such as That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, and TV-movie High School Musical.

Product Placement in Games, Music and Books

Some people estimate that product placement started in the 1930s with movie directors filming in their favorite restaurants; others estimate it all really began with the promotion of Reese's Pieces in the beloved film, ET.  In either case, we've seen it done in movies and television for years now and with more and more people using TiVo and other DVR technology to skip commercials, it was only a matter of time before video games, music and books became popular outlets for advertising.  Here are some notes on each category:

Video Games

• CMCH Researcher David Bickham's earliest video game product placement memory was of a British Knights (shoes) "billboard" in the background of basketball game Arch Rival from 1990.
• These days, not only are the graphics more advanced (thus able to translate logos and branding better), but Electronic Arts, a leading video game publisher, has just announced a new in-game ad technology.  Now, ads can be updated by advertisers through the Internet, allowing them to rotate messages within ad campaigns or between different products.

Music

• More and more there are products mentioned in Top 40 Songs.  The Black Eyed Peas' lyrics are full of product mentions; fashion companies Fendi, Donna Karan, Dolce & Gabbana, and Seven Jeans are all mentioned in the first verse of My Humps; and Grey Goose (vodka) appears in Fergie's latest song, London Bridge. 
• In 2002, Pass the Courvoisier by Busta Rhymes even had the product right there in the title!  This mention instantly boosted Courvoisier sales in the US and in Europe while bringing a drink previously associated with an older, wealthy and white generation of men into a younger urban culture.

Books

• The latest example of product placement is Cathy's Book, where Procter & Gamble made a deal with authors to include various Cover Girl products in the book in exchange for promotion on its teen girl website.
• Product placement in books is occuring not only on the pages between the covers, but in fact, on the covers themselves and even in the titles! Recent titles in the "chick-lit" genre: The Devil Wears Prada, The Bulgari Connection, and The Bergdorf Blondes.

In writing this post, I came across the website Brandchannel.com, where one feature is to review the product placements in a top-grossing movie each week. 

You can find research on product placement in the CMCH Database of Research.

MMWR Report - Alcohol Radio Advertising

This week's MMWR report is titled Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Radio.  After studying ads for the top 25 alcohol brands in the top 104 media markets, researchers found that 49% of the ads were on programs where the audience was disproportionately composed of youth under the legal drinking age.   

Two Media Articles in August "Pediatrics"

Today, there were two new research articles on media and health in the August issue of Pediatrics:

The first study measured whether watching professional wrestling on television lead high school students to increased fighting with their dating partners.  In a longitudinal study of over 2,200 students, researchers found "significant correlations" between how often students watched wrestling on television and how often they fought with their dating partner, fought with others, and carried weapons. 

The second study measured teens' music listening habits and their sexual behavior to see whether their was a correlation.  In this 2 year study of over 1,400 adolescents, researchers found that youth who listened to more degrading music were more likely to advance their sexual behavior at a faster rate than those who listened to non-degrading music. 

You can find more research on the effects of music lyrics in the CMCH Database of Research.