LONDON, June 19 — Research from the UK’s University of Nottingham suggests that cigarettes and alcohol appear frequently in British reality TV shows.

Researchers working on the study, published in the Journal of Public Health, focused on five specific reality TV shows: Celebrity Big Brother, Made in Chelsea, The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore and Love Island, all shown on UK TV channels for a total of 112 episodes between January and August 2018. Each scene was studied to establish the number of one-minute intervals featuring imagery of tobacco and/or alcohol.

Alcohol featured in all 112 episodes. The greatest number of one-minute intervals featuring alcohol imagery was found in the Love Island show, in which single contestants couple up in a villa, isolated from the outside world. In total, 40 brands of alcohol were identified, with the most common being Smirnoff vodka. Tobacco content (actual or inferred use) was present in 20 episodes, almost exclusively in Celebrity Big Brother. The researchers state that unlike alcohol, no tobacco branding was present.

Driving consumption among young people?

When taking into account audience figures and population estimates, the researchers consider that the 112 episodes showed 4.9 billion overall alcohol impressions to the UK population, including 580 million to under-16s. For tobacco, this stands at 214 million impressions, including 47 million to under-16s.

"Recent data shows that 44 per cent of 11-15 year-olds in England have had an alcoholic drink, and 19 per cent have tried smoking. Starting to smoke or drink alcohol at a young age is a strong predictor of dependence and continued use in later life,” said the study’s lead author, Alexander Barker.

"Given that seeing alcohol or tobacco imagery in the media promotes use among young people, this study therefore identifies reality television shows as a major potential driver of alcohol and tobacco consumption in young people in the UK. Tighter scheduling rules, such as restricting the amount of content and branding shown in these programmes, could prevent children and adolescents from being exposed to the tobacco and alcohol content.” — AFP-Relaxnews