Alcohol making more appearances in movies for US teens

Branded alcohol is making more and more appearances in movies rated for U.S. teen audiences, a researcher says. Elaina Bergamini of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire looked at data on hit movies from 1996-2009. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, found appearances of branded alcohol in movies rated G, PG- and PG-13 rose from 80 to 145 a year. Bergamini said there were controls on tobacco appearances, and they were not rising, but alcohol lacked similar controls. She says parents should talk with their kids: "Talk about drinking. Talk about binge drinking," Bergamini said in a statement. "Talk about the consequences of drinking -- especially in light of the fact that those consequences are not sufficiently represented in the movies."