Interpretations of individualistic and collectivistic drinking messages in beer commercials by teenagers from five european countries

The study is a qualitative investigation into European teenagers’ meaning-making of beer commercials with individualistic and collectivistic drinking messages. The subjects were teenagers (aged 13–16) from Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Eight (8) focus group interviews were conducted in each country, with a total of 267 participants. Beer commercials acted as stimuli for the group discussions. The adolescents’ speech in these discussions was analysed for the perceived positive outcomes of drinking alcohol and for perceptions of competence attached to drinking. The speech of the participants is juxtaposed to a semiotic reading of the commercials and differences between the groups are explained by cultural differences.