Wine Tasting Sessions Could Stop Teen Drinking

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - The French have a new method of battling teenage drinking. They are handing over the bottle.

Meanwhile Americans are learning that their method of battling the trend may be backfiring.

A French government-commissioned report suggests to university canteens to hold wine-tasting sessions. The UK Guardian reports that the idea is to educate young people to “the virtues of moderate consumption.”

Television presenter and celebrated gastronome Jean-Pierre Coffe co-wrote the study.

"Why is there sexual education and not viticultural education? You can learn wine too," the Guardian reported he told French radio. "Drinking is not drinking a bottle. Wine is pleasure. It's like love. It's the same."

According to the UK Telegraph, not everyone is a fan of the proposal. Alain Rigaud, president of the National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction, called it shocking that “respected figures” would advocate such an idea.

"It's naive to think we're going to reduce binge drinking in this way," he said, calling the proposal a way to market for the wine industry.

Meanwhile Advertising Age is reporting that binge drinking public service announcements may be having a negative effect.

A Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management study suggests that the ads may be leading to more binge drinking. The study faults their reliance on “self-conscious” emotions like guilt and shame.

While such methods have been used to spotlight personal consequences of binge drinking, the study said that viewers already feeling shame or guilt would resist messages relying on these emotions. Advertising Age reports that they may even be more likely to participate in the behavior that they are being warned about.

AOL News reports that drinking among American teens is rising after a 10-year decline. The article refers to the Northwestern study in which researchers polled 1,200 undergraduates using announcements designed for a Canadian anti-drinking campaign.

The study focused on two ads, one showing someone perched at a toilet after drinking too much and the other on how excessive drinking can impact a person’s loved ones.

Subjects were told to reflect on a moment of shame in their own lives then look at the ads. When asked how likely they were to binge drink in the coming year, the guiltier the participants looked at the ads the more likely they were to drink.

The study called it “defensive processing,” which means “when an individual reacts adversely to messages that provoke feelings of guilt or shame,” according to AOL News .

Those who also experienced the most guilt or shame were also least likely to believe that binge drinking would affect them negatively.