“The TV Water Shortage” Portrayal of water and other drinks on UK television programmes by The Natural Hydration Council supported by Media psychologist Emma Kenny, MBACP Published 14th December 2015 Email: [email protected] www.naturalhydrationcouncil.org.uk Table of Contents 1. Foreword by Emma Kenny 2. Introduction 3. Objectives Page Number 3 4 4 4. Method 4 7 8 8 9 6.3 Circumstances in which water shown or mentioned 17 6.4 Gender Profile 5. Programmes monitored 6. Results 6.1 Amount of Programme Time devoted to Drinks 6.2 Water compared with other Drinks 7. Summary of Key Findings 18 19 2 1. Foreword I have spent my entire career working with people in a therapeutic environment, and what I have become acutely aware of in the interim is the profound link between mental and physical health. The age-­‐old adage, ‘healthy body, healthy mind,’ has not stood the test of time by pure chance. The connection between our physical and mental self is key to a happy, healthy life. I believe in this proposition so strongly that I have built a business upon its premise, and it is within this context that I first began working with the Natural Hydration Council. Its dedication to the research of the science of healthy hydration resonated strongly with my own ethos and beliefs within the arena of psychology and the study of human behaviour. Accordingly, I applaud the Natural Hydration Council for its research into the portrayal of hydration habits in popular television and radio programmes. The study is based on the basic hypothesis that water does not feature in broadcasts as heavily as other beverages and therefore is not promoted to the same extent as other drinks. I believe that valuable research such as this, and its ultimate findings, is sorely needed, given that media broadcasts have become more readily available than ever before. Catch up television, box sets on demand, podcasts and 24-­‐hour access to a wide variety of material have conspired to offer us unprecedented choice in our viewing, and listening, experience. In turn, this has provided programme-­‐makers with the opportunity to exert an influence over an ever-­‐
growing audience. Accordingly, with over 30 million Brits watching at least one soap opera a week1, programme-­‐makers should, first and foremost, recognise the sheer extent of the influence their productions have upon viewer behaviour and exercise it responsibly. Specifically, they must be mindful of the opportunity to positively influence the hydration choices of the audience. There is no doubt that people are influenced by the antics of the characters portrayed in popular television programmes. As a society, we celebrate celebrity status and place actors on a pedestal. This is especially true of the younger generation, who will often look up to their favourite fictional characters and view them as role models, mimicking their behaviour, image, dress sense and manner of speech, amongst other traits. Programme-­‐
makers are, therefore, consistently presented with the perfect opportunity to utilise such 1
27% of the UK watch soaps on a daily basis and 19% of the UK watch soaps on a weekly basis. Data collected on 18-­‐21 September 2015, Bilendi conducted an online survey among 2,000 randomly selected British adults who are Maximiles UK panellists. The margin of error-­‐which measures sampling variability-­‐is +/-­‐ 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and regional data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of Great Britain. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
3 hero-­‐worshipping tendencies to positively influence the behaviour of the viewer – including his or her choice of drinks. To date, programme-­‐makers have failed to take advantage of this opportunity. That said, they are certainly not alone. There has, for example, arisen in more recent times an unfortunate tendency to promote unhealthy hydration at highly publicised events, such as football matches, where it often features as an official sponsor. It is a shame that these opportunities to champion healthy hydration are overlooked, when such strategies could potentially influence viewers to make better, healthier choices. The same issue is mirrored in popular television programmes, where unhealthy beverages also appear far more regularly than healthy hydration alternatives, and water makes up only a fraction of the drinks featured; this status quo cannot continue. The UK is in the midst of a growing obesity epidemic, and the government is well aware of the current strain this is placing on both the nation’s health and the NHS. The healthcare and social cost to the country in dealing with an increasingly overweight population is estimated to be around £50bn per year, and this figure is only set to increase. Such developments have led to many healthcare professionals calling for a ban on the advertising of junk food in all forms, as has been the case with cigarettes since 2005. There is also growing support for the UK to follow in the footsteps of countries such as Mexico, and impose a ‘sugar tax’ in an attempt to reduce sales of unhealthy food and drink. Bearing in mind the dire state of the nation’s health, and this recognition that attitudes towards diet and related policies need to change, it is perhaps time for programme-­‐makers to follow suit and take steps to redress the balance in the representation of healthy drinks in their productions, with a view to influencing viewer behaviour for the better. I hope that the findings of this report will prove both informative and shocking to the reader in equal measure, and open his or her eyes to the current, unacceptable state of affairs regarding the representation of healthy hydration in some of the nation’s most popular television programmes. We are now, as a nation, surely forced to consider whether programme-­‐makers should, by way of good practice and in recognition of a duty of care towards the consumer, adopt an ethical approach to drink placements in their broadcasts with the aim of encouraging viewers to make healthier hydration choices. Emma Kenny, Media psychologist, MBACP December 2015 4 2. Introduction The Natural Hydration Council commissioned Pickersgill Consultancy & Planning Ltd (PCP) to undertake a detailed analysis of the portrayal of water on television programmes. The work was designed to review whether UK television programmes are using their influence to positively impact drink choices amongst UK consumers. 3. Objectives The objectives of the analysis were to review: • The amount of programme time in which drinks were shown; • The frequency with which water was shown compared with other drinks, i.e. alcohol, tea, coffee, milk, juice or fizzy drinks etc. • The circumstances in which water in particular was portrayed in the programme; • Any major differences by type of programme or between BBC and ITV; • The profile of the person handling, consuming, intending to consume or mentioning to the drink. 4. Method Two separate weeks of programmes were monitored in order to ensure that the analysis had not by chance been undertaken for a week when the programmes were unusual in some respect. A gap of one week was left between the two weeks in which programmes were monitored to ensure that the plot lines of a particular series were likely to have moved on from those in the first week’s episodes. In each of the two weeks, all programmes which met the following criteria were monitored: • They appeared on BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5, CBBC or CITV; • They were of a type classified as “soap opera”, “drama”, “sitcom” or “children’s programme”; 5 •
•
•
•
•
•
They were produced in the UK; They were not repeats (except for programmes which had been shown on channels such as BBC3, ITV3, E4 previously but which were being shown for the first time on the above channels); They were not films; They were set in the present day (for this reason, a programme such as Downton Abbey, though screened in both the weeks under review, was excluded from the analysis); In the case of the children’s programmes, they showed “realistic” situations (for example, were not set under the sea or did not feature aliens); They were shown at the same time across the country as a whole. All programmes which met the above criteria were included in the analysis. This was important to remove any possibility of subjectivity in the selection of programmes. In addition, all episodes of The Archers on Radio 4 were monitored in the same two weeks. In this case, of course, the analyst was simply listening for any mentions of a drink being consumed then and there or planned for a later time. Recordings of all programmes which met the above criteria were viewed or listened to. This allowed the analyst the ability to pause whilst points of interest were noted or the scene to be played back to ensure nothing had been missed. Detailed information was entered on to a spreadsheet every time a drink of any sort was mentioned or shown on screen. Information entered included: • Whether the drink was actually consumed, was visible without being consumed or simply mentioned; • How much screen time was devoted to the scene featuring the drink; • Broad characteristics of the person mentioning, consuming or likely to consume it. In addition, a note was made of any occasions when a meal or exercise scene was shown in the programme without drinks of any sort being shown or mentioned. It should be noted that, to qualify for inclusion, the drink had to be specifically mentioned or intended for consumption (whether or not it actually was). Thus: 6 •
A water dispenser, or other drinks-­‐related material (such as bottles of wine on a supermarket shelf), shown in the background of a scene was not included unless a character actually used the material for a drink; •
A jug or glasses of water, juice or some other liquid were included even if there was no certainty that anyone would actually consume the liquid. For example, glasses of water shown on the benches in a court scene or on a bedside table were included on the basis that they were available for consumption and had presumably been put in position in the belief that someone would actually drink them. As it happened, quite a high proportion of screen time in which a drink appeared or was mentioned fell into this second category and it was often not clear who, if anyone, was likely to consume the drink. For this reason, the results showing the profile of the ultimate consumer are necessarily quite limited. The spreadsheet on which the relevant information was recorded is attached as Appendix One. 5. Programmes monitored All programmes which met the above criteria in the weeks Saturday 26 September – Friday 3 October and Saturday 11 October – Friday 17 October were monitored. A total of 45½ hours of programme time was monitored, made up as follows: Hours Week One Week Two Total TV Soap operas 4.3 4.8 9.1 Drama programmes 12.5 12.5 25.0 Sitcoms 0.5 0.5 1.0 Children’s programmes 3.5 3.9 7.4 The Archers 1.5 1.5 3.0 The full list of programmes monitored is shown as Appendix Two. 7 6. Results The spreadsheet attached as Appendix One was completed for every scene in any of the monitored programmes in which a drink of any sort was shown or mentioned. This detailed spreadsheet can be made available if required. 6.1 Amount of Programme time devoted to drinks Typically, around 10% of screen time for the adult programmes showed or mentioned drinks. Drama programmes were the least likely type of adult programme to show or mention to drinks. Only 3% of screen time for the children’s programmes showed or mentioned drinks. There were 25 mentions of drinks in the 12 15-­‐minute editions of The Archers over the two weeks, accounting for less than 1% of programme time. % of programme time in which drinks shown or mentioned Week one Week Two Weeks One and Two Soap operas 11 13 12 Drama programmes 13 5 9 Sitcoms 29 8 20 Children’s programmes 1 5 3 The Archers 1 1 1 All the soap operas devoted similar amounts of screen time to drinks (13-­‐14% in each case) with the exception of Hollyoaks (only 6%). Amongst drama programmes, Doctor Foster (27%) and New Tricks (25%) devoted the greatest amount of screen time to drinks. River (3%), Doc Martin (3%), Holby City (4%), From Darkness (5%), Unforgotten (5%), Lewis (6%) and Casualty (6%) all included only very occasional mentions, or sight of, drinks. Amongst sitcoms, Boy meets Girl devoted 29% screen time to drinks, The Job Lot only 8%. 8 The 5 children’s programmes monitored devoted a maximum of 8% of screen time to drinks. Hank Zipzer at 8% devoted the greatest amount of time, Rocket’s Island (1%), Horrid Henry (2%) and House of Anubis (2%) the least. 6.2 Water compared with other Drinks The programme time in which drinks were featured was broken down into categories of drink, defined as follows: Hot Drinks Tea Coffee Unspecified drink out of mug or cup Alcohol Beer/lager Wine/port Champagne Spirits Cocktails Soft / Fizzy Drinks Fizzy drinks (cola, lemonade etc) Fruit juice Squash Smoothie Milk Hot and cold milk, milk shakes Water Bottled and tap water, sparkling and still water. 9 Note that “intelligent guesswork” was required on occasions to assess whether the drink was hot and non alcoholic (drinking from a mug was the most commonly used indicator) or alcoholic. In these cases, it was not possible to specify the exact type of drink within the category. There were no mentions or showings of sports / energy drinks in any of the programmes monitored. The table below demonstrates that when a drink was shown or mentioned on a soap opera, it was most likely to be an alcoholic or a hot drink. Water accounted for only 6% of the screen time in which a drink was shown for these programmes. Water was more likely to appear on drama and children’s programmes (18% and 20% of “drinks screen time” respectively). However it was still much less likely than alcohol and hot drinks to feature on drama programmes and much less likely than soft/fizzy drinks to feature on children’s programmes. The two sitcoms monitored, and the 12 editions of The Archers, did not show or mention water in any scene. Soap operas Sitcoms Drama Children’s The Archers Programmes % drinks screen time given to: % % % % % Water 6 0 18 20 0 Hot drinks 48 58 34 17 52 Alcohol 39 25 34 1 44 Soft/fizzy drinks 7 10 15 64 0 Milk 0 6 2 8 4 Note that some of the figures add to more than 100% as more than one type of drink was shown in some scenes. The chart below shows that there was very little variability between the two weeks in the breakdowns by type of drink for soap operas and broad consistency also between the two weeks for children’s programmes. Although there were differences in the extent to which hot drinks and alcohol were featured in the two weeks for drama programmes, water was dominated by one or other of these drink types in each of the weeks. 10 “Drinks” Screen Time by Drink Type
Weeks One and Two
100%
0
10
0
5
0
34
80%
33
44
2
3
2
20
14
13
10
0
9
0
Milk
43
31
64
0
60%
0
41
45
64
Soft/fizzy drinks
64
Alcohol
40%
49
48
56
0
66
23
20%
29
0%
8
4
Soaps
Wk 1 Wk 2
14
0
1
22
16
16
21
0
Sitcoms
Wk 1 Wk2
57
45
0
Drama
Wk 1 Wk 2
Children's
Wk 1 Wk 2
0
Hot drinks
Water
The Archers
Wk 1 Wk 2
Again some of the figures add up to more than 100% as more than one drink type was shown in some scenes. In all the soap operas monitored water accounted for less than 10% of the screen time devoted to drinks. The two BBC soap operas (EastEnders and Doctors) did, however, record slightly higher percentages at 9% and 8% respectively compared with Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. % o f “Drinks” S creen Time devoted to Water
Soap Operas
10
9
8
8
6
%
4
4
4
3
2
0
East Enders
Doctors
Coronation S treet Emmerdale H ollyoaks
11 The most popular category of non-­‐alcoholic drinks across all the soaps was ‘hot drinks’, which are often seen in mugs and could be tea, coffee or any other hot drink. Hot drinks represented over 80% of the drinks shown on Emmerdale, while water represented just 5% of drinks shown. Just over 20% of drinks shown on Hollyoaks were soft or fizzy drinks. % breakdown of non-­‐alcoholic drinks shown or menooned in Soap Operas 85 90 80 75 75 71 68 70 60 % Hot drink 50 Milk 40 30 20 10 13 8 5 0 17 8 0 0 10 5 16 13 0 Coronaoon Eastenders Emmerdale Doctors Street 21 11 Water Sop /fizzy drink 0 Hollyoaks The most popular alcoholic drinks category shown or mentioned in Coronation Street and Emmerdale was ‘beer/ lager/ ale’. Eastenders and Doctors’ characters drank wine more than any other category. ‘Other alcoholic drinks’ represented over 20% of the alcoholic drinks on Hollyoaks and these were often cocktails, with wine and beer/ lager/ ale being most popular, both representing 36% of drinks shown. Spirits represented almost 20% of drinks shown on Coronation Street with whiskey specifically representing over 20% of drinks shown on Doctors. Whiskey and other spirits represented 20% of drinks shown on Eastenders. % breakdown of alcoholic drinks shown or menooned in Soap Operas 60 51 49 50 36 40 36 Beer/lager/ale 40 32 30 27 24 % 30 23 23 21 Wine 19 16 16 20 9 11 7 8 7 Spirits 5 4 3 10 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Whiskey Champagne/ cava Other' alcoholic drink 12 % of episodes with no water shown 80 70 60 60 50 % 40 67 64 70 37 30 20 10 0 Eastenders Doctors Coronaoon Street Emmerdale Hollyoaks Across the analysis period, there were a number of episodes in all the soaps monitored that didn’t show or mention any drinks of water at all. 70% of Hollyoaks episodes analysed showed no drinks of water, with Coronation Street and Emmerdale closely behind at 67% and 64% respectively. Three of the four drama programmes with the highest exposure of water relative to other drinks had a medical theme (Doctor Foster, Casualty and Holby City). The tendency for medical dramas to give high exposure to water was not universal, however, as ITV’s Doc Martin recorded only 6% of exposure to drinks accounted for by water. The programme with the single greatest level of exposure of water relative to other drinks was BBC1’s From Darkness (59%). Other BBC drama programmes (New Tricks and River), however, did not give any screen time to water. 13 % of “Drinks” Screen Time devoted to Water
Drama Programmes
80
59
60
48
% 40
24
20
0
20
17
0
0
6
8
0
Bearing in mind that Doctors showed one of the higher percentages for water amongst the soap operas, there does seem to be some evidence that programmes with a medical theme give the greatest exposure to water and least exposure to soft / fizzy drinks. At the other extreme, police/crime programmes such as Lewis, River and New Tricks did not feature water at all. “Medical” drama Other drama % drinks screen time devoted to: % % Water 28 9 Hot drinks 36 31 Alcohol 33 35 Soft/fizzy drinks 1 29 Milk 2 1 Note that the figures for other dramas add to more than 100% as some scenes featured more than one type of drink. Both the sitcom programmes monitored (BBC1’s Boy meets Girl and ITV1’s The Job Lot) gave no exposure at all to water. 14 Amongst children’s programmes, Hank Zipzer and Horrid Henry gave more exposure to water than either Rocket’s Island or House of Anubis. The one episode of The Dumping Ground (lasting 30 minutes) contained no mentions to, or sight of, water at all. % of “Drinks” Screen Time devoted to Water
Children’s Programmes
40
36
30
25
% 20
13
10
8
0
0
Horrid Henry
Rocket's Island
House of Anubis
Hank Zipzer
The Dumping Ground
Across all the soap operas and drama programmes monitored, those shown on BBC tended to give more prominence to water compared to ITV. It seems likely, however, that this is more a reflection of the type of programme shown in the two weeks (in particular the greater emphasis of medical programmes on BBC) than a channel difference per se. 15 On two occasions in the adult programmes monitored, a meal took place with no drinks present. These occasions took up 36 seconds of screen time (less than 0.5% of all screen time). The two scenes were from Emmerdale and Lewis. One exercise scene (from Coronation Street) was shown occupying 12 seconds of screen time. We also monitored what characters were drinking during mealtimes on children’s programming. In five mealtime scenes monitored, no drinks were shown at all. The most popular drink that was put on the table during children’s programming was squash. Water was the least popular drink choice and only included for one episode. Drinks in mealome scenes Number of scenes 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 No drink Squash Milk Tea Juice Coffee Water 16 There were five scenes in the children’s programmes monitored in which a meal was shown with no drinks present. These scenes took up 86 seconds of screen time (less than 0.5% of all screen time for the children’s programmes monitored). Four of these scenes were from Horrid Henry (occupying 67 seconds of screen time), one was from Hank Zipzer (19 seconds of screen time). 6.3 Circumstances in which water shown or mentioned Even when water was shown in the course of a programme, it was by no means always shown as being drunk, even partially (see Table below). For adult programmes, approximately half of the screen time in which water featured showed a scene in which some of the water was drunk. Most of the remaining scenes showed a drink present but not actually being consumed. There were a few scenes in which the water was mentioned without being shown. There were just six occasions on which water was shown or mentioned during one of the children’s programmes. On none of these occasions was the water shown actually being drunk. Soap operas Drama Children’s Programmes % % % Mentioned, not shown 5 5 0 Shown, but not drunk 48 38 100 Drunk (at least partially) 46 57 0 An alternative analysis looked in greater detail at the circumstances in which the water was mentioned or shown. This analysis distinguished the occasions: • When the water was present (for example in a court scene) without it being necessarily required by any particular person. These occasions have been mentioned as “in case of need” in the table below. • When the water appeared to have been provided for purposes of actual consumption by a particular individual (even if that consumption was not shown in the scene). An example was a drink by someone’s bedside table. 17 •
When the water was drunk for medicinal reasons such as pregnancy or recovering from a fainting fit. •
When the water was drunk for general reassurance (for example because the person was feeling under stress). •
When the water was drunk because the individual had drug or alcohol problems. Soap operas Drama Children’s Programmes % % % 27 27 21 “In case of need” For general hydration 50 71 79 For medical reasons 8 2 0 For general reassurance 5 0 0 Because of alcohol, drug problems 10 0 0 It can be seen that in soap operas, water was shown or mentioned as being needed for other reasons than general hydration or ‘in case of need’. Examples were for overcoming stress or as an alternative to those suffering from alcohol or drugs problems. 6.4 Gender Profile As indicated above, the analysis of the profile of the gender of the person or persons in scenes portraying or mentioning water should be treated with caution: • There were some scenes in which the person likely to be consuming the drink was not clear; • Even when a person could be linked to the water shown or mentioned, he/she was not necessarily the ultimate consumer rather than simply preparing it or taking it to another person. Nevertheless, despite these difficulties of interpretation, there does appear to be some evidence that drama programmes were more likely to portray females rather than males when water appeared on screen or was mentioned. 18 Soap operas Drama Children’s Programmes % % % Male 51 36 91 Female 50 57 81 General scene 3 32 0 The figures add to more than 100% as some occasions showed both a specific male and a specific female character as the likely consumer of the water. Indeed, it can be seen that on the majority of occasions when water was shown or mentioned in a children’s programme, both a male and a female were involved. 7 Summary of Key Findings • Soft / fizzy drinks dominated when drinks were shown or mentioned in Children’s programmes. • No water was actually seen to be consumed during the children’s programmes monitored. • Typically, around 10% of screen time of soap operas and drama programmes showed or mentioned drinks. • When drinks were shown or mentioned, water was featured much less frequently than other drinks. This was particularly the case for soap operas and sitcoms. • Only about half the screen time in which water was shown or mentioned on adult programmes featured a scene in which the water was actually drunk. • Hot drinks and alcohol were the dominant types of drink portrayed in soap operas. • Drama programmes showed a more even split between alcohol and soft drinks. • The “medical” drama programmes gave greater prominence to water than was the case for other dramas. 19