This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Reality TV shows such as Love Island are encouraging children and young people to smoke or drink under age by showing contestants regularly engaging in both pursuits, public health experts warn.

An analysis of how often alcohol and tobacco were depicted or referenced in five popular reality series found they featured much more often in those programmes than on other primetime shows.

The study, by researchers at Nottingham University, concluded: “Reality TV programmes are a major source of exposure to young people in the UK and is likely to be a contributor to smoking and alcohol uptake by young people.”

Ofcom’s broadcasting code restricts the use of depictions of alcohol or tobacco in programmes aimed at children and discourages depiction of either substance in a way that would glamourise their consumption in any programme shown before the 9pm children’s viewing “watershed”.

Despite this restriction, researchers led by Alexander Barker found: “Reality TV programmes, while usually broadcast after the 9pm watershed, are widely seen and accessed by young people and that this genre of programme is exposing young people to tobacco and alcohol content.”

The ease with which under-18s can watch such programmes on catch-up services make it hard to stop them seeing shows in which both substances feature often, the report said.

The academics reached their findings after watching 112 episodes between January and August last year from the five shows Love Island, The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore, Made in Chelsea and Celebrity Big Brother. The latter was axed last September after 18 years on screen.

The makers of Love Island stopped featuring smoking after its depiction in the 2017 series led to a backlash. There was no tobacco content in the 2018 series, according to the study published in the Journal of Public Health.

Alcohol appeared in all 112 episodes and also in 2,212 one-minute clips, which made up 42% of all clips the researchers looked at. Drink being consumed was featured in 18% of the one-minute clips, while inferred alcohol consumption – mainly characters holding drinks – was in 34% of clips.

Love Island had the highest alcohol content, while Geordie Shore contained the most alcohol branding, showing it in 69% of episodes, and featuring 40 brands altogether.

While tobacco featured in 20 of the 112 episodes, that was almost all in Celebrity Big Brother.

Reality TV shows have also been accused of making people insecure about their appearance, and possibly resorting to cosmetic procedures, and of putting such strain on participants that they can develop mental health problems. Two former Love Island contestants took their own lives in 2018 and 2019.

Toby Green, tobacco policy lead at the Royal Society for Public Health, said: “The new findings show completely unacceptable levels of exposure of these harmful products to our children and young people.”

Responsible broadcasters should regard the high alcohol and tobacco content of reality shows as “surely unacceptable”, Green added. The amount of smoking shown risks “renormalising” a habit that kills 100,000 Britons a year, he said.

Given the number of viewers they attracted overall, the 112 episodes delivered what researchers estimated to be 4.9bn alcohol impressions in the UK, including 580m to under-16s, and 214m tobacco impressions, of which 47m were seen by the same age group.

Barker said: “Given that seeing alcohol or tobacco imagery in the media promotes use among young people, our 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.”