Language Use in Adverts as a Tool of Construction of Perception on Alcohol Use among Secondary School Students in Eldoret Municipality

Abstract

This paper examines language use in adverts as a tool of construction of perception on alcohol use among secondary school students in Eldoret municipality. The paper also discusses how alcohol related information is portrayed on television and how these messages persuade the youth to engage in the use of alcohol products. This study is based on Albert Bandura‘s theory of social learning that discusses learning behaviour by direct experience or observation and diffusion of innovation theory of how ideas and forms of behaviour are spread in a population. The target population for this study was young people aged between 14-17 years who were in school. A sample size of 200 was arrived at through simple random and purposive sampling. To obtain data, a structured questionnaire was administered to the youth. Observation was used mainly for programmes and advertisements that portray alcohol messages. The results indicate that young people consider alcohol adverts to be attractive and captivating especially in their early teens. Furthermore, young people in school are more vulnerable to being influenced by advertisements. Though young people are exposed to alcohol messages not all are swayed into drinking. Keywords: Language use, adverts, alcohol, perception