SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING AND BEHAVIOUR CHANGE OF ALCOHOL CONSUMERS IN CALABAR, NIGERIA

The excess consumption of alcohol causes adverse health and social consequences. Alcoholuse is associated with increased risk of acute health conditions. Harmful use of alcohol cancause high blood pressure, liver cirrhosis, some cancers (mouth, intestine and breast) andcardiovascular diseases. It is also the cause of several accidents, marital problems and othersocial problems. Babor and Higgin-Biddle (2001) stated that most of the harms associatedwith alcohol use occur among people who are not dependent on alcohol but drink aboverecommended levels. In the whole world, 3.3 million deaths every year results from harmfuluse of alcohol, also in the age group 20-39 years, approximately 25 percent of total deaths arealcohol-induced (WHO, 2015). In 2017, a 35 year old man and friend of a leading Nigerianmusician „Davido‟ died after consuming ten „tequila‟ shots in a drinking competition on hisbirthday (Punch, 2017).Visits to drinking bars across Calabar Metropolis reveals that most persons, many ofwho are university students, spend their evening (especially weekends) in drinking parloursand wine bars, consuming alcohol. These persons are influenced to drink alcohol excessivelydue to aggressive marketing by alcohol manufacturers, (Shaikh, Pathak & Kapilashrami,2015). Other causes of alcohol consumption are social norms, the urge to make and sustainfriendship, and peer pressure. Most alcohol consumers engage in this behaviour because theyare not aware of the harm they can cause to themselves and/or their relatives.The key to improving health lies in our ability to change harmful behaviour.Approximately four in five drinkers would decrease their risk of death if they reduced theirdrinking by one unit of alcohol per week, (OECD, 2015). Behaviour change can be achievedthrough social marketing interventions, where deeply held beliefs or habits are challenged inorder to influence the status quo. Social marketing interventions aimed at changing harmfulalcohol consumption can be carried out through traditional face to face or through onlinemedia channels. Online channels such as social media posses several advantages, whichinclude availability, confidentiality, flexibility, low cost, ease of access, comfort and manyother advantages not obtained in traditional face to face media channels.Social Media are web-based communications tools that enable people to interact witheach other by both sharing and consuming information, (Nation, 2017). Since the advent ofsocial media, young adults have been early adopters and voracious users of these tools,(Purcell,Smith & Zickuhr, 2010). Young adults are immersed in social media such as Facebook andTwitter, (Lernhardt, 2005).