December 2006

Sweet, inexpensive `alcopops' Worthy of More Regulation
San Jose Mercury News Editorial, December 1, 2006

The flavored alcohol drinks -- with cutesy names designed to appeal to teens -- are increasingly popular with underage drinkers, especially girls. The federal government should be embarrassed that it is helping alcohol marketers make alcopops more accessible to teens. And Santa Clara County officials should be congratulated for their efforts to make it harder for teens' to purchase the drinks.

The county recently announced that it will sue for the right to tax the sweetened drinks at a rate equivalent to distilled spirits. The state Board of Equalization, which is on the receiving end of the suit, made its decision to tax alcopops at the same level of beer to mirror the federal Tax and Trade Bureau policy that categorizes alcopops as flavored malt beverages.

The fact that beverage makers can get away with the scam is a credit to their creativity and lobbying clout.

The drinks -- with such names as Skyy Blue, Hooper's Hooch and Mike's Hard Lemonade -- are brewed like beer. But manufacturers then remove the beer-like taste and color, replacing them with sweeteners, distilled alcohol and food coloring. Voila! A drink that can be marketed and sold to young drinkers at about the same price and at the same locations as beer.

The implications are huge.

Studies show that teenage alcohol use is greatly influenced by price and availability. Taxing alcopops at the same level as distilled spirits would raise the cost of a six-pack by about $1.50 and, perhaps most important, prevent them from being sold at some 35,000 retail outlets around the state.

In California, Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, in her last session in the Legislature before being termed out of office, sponsored a bill that would have regulated the manner in which alcopops are marketed, including tougher penalties for advertisers who target underage drinkers. But the Legislature balked at passing it. Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, hopes to revisit the issue in 2007.

The alcohol industry goes to great lengths to say that its marketing efforts are not directed at teens. And it is difficult to prove conclusively that the industry's placement of ads that it claims are targeted at 21- to 30-year-olds is intentionally designed to appeal to underage drinkers.

But the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, in a special report, concluded that in 2004 youth aged 12 to 20 saw ``33 percent more advertising for alcopops per capita than adults age 21 and older.''

According to the American Medical Association, one out of every three teen girls has tried alcopops. Even more disconcerting, the same 2004 study showed that one of every six teen girls who tried alcopops had been sexually active after drinking. And one out of every four had driven after drinking or been in a car with a driver who had been drinking.

Underage drinking is the No. 1 health and safety risk for young people. It's time that state and federal governments stop valuing alcohol-industry profits above the health of our children.

Alcopops Action Center

Children and adolescents are being bombarded by so many ads that medical experts now fear for their health. Some 40,000 ads a year from television alone may be boosting obesity, poor nutrition and cigarette and alcohol use among U.S. youth, according to a revised statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The statement, which appears in the December issue of Pediatrics, calls for more media education to counter some of advertising's negative effects. "We're pleading with pediatricians and parents to become aware that consumeristic tendencies are being fed right from birth," said Dr. Donald Shifrin, chairman of the AAP Committee on Communications, which issued the statement, and a pediatrician in private practice in Seattle.

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Alcohol Ads and Youth

A beer distributor says Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew. In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine. The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale. "Last year it was elves. This year it's Santa. Maybe next year it'll be reindeer," said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Massachusetts.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contends the state's action violates the First Amendment by censoring artistic expression. But the state says it's within its rights.

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More Attempts by Big Alcohol to Hijack Santa Claus

Is there a Wet Willy in your daughter's lunch box? What looks like lime Jell-O might really be 24-proof vodka in a cute little plastic cup.

Or that packet of juice in your son's back pocket -- an innocent bag of fruit drink or a single-serving of 35-proof liqueur?

Oh, and you'd better inspect that bottle of sweet cranberry lemonade to see exactly what the kids are guzzling.

At a time when parents, teachers, doctors and cops are trying harder than ever to convince kids to stay away from alcohol, the alcoholic beverage industry seems to be working harder than ever to entice them with drinks that don't look or taste like grown-up booze -- but pack a punch nonetheless.

" These aren't products that were designed with the adult in mind,'' said Joan Kiley, director of the Alcohol Policy Network, an alcohol abuse prevention group in Berkeley. ``The alcohol industry has learned a lot from the tobacco industry about luring young people.''

Cheap, sweet, dangerous

By now you've no doubt heard about the furor over ``alcopops'' -- sweet, fruity drinks that are popular with teens. Though they contain distilled alcohol, they are taxed at the same rate as beer, which means a six-pack costs about $8. Last month, Santa Clara County joined advocates in urging the state to tax alcopops as distilled spirits, which would make them too pricey for most teens.

But alcopops like Mike's Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff's Black Cherry Ice are just the beginning. The world of youth-oriented booze has grown so vast that you really need an expert to show you around.

And I found the perfect tour guide.

Mike Fox Sr. is a San Jose beverage distributor who made a fortune selling beer and spirits. He's also a 70-year-old alcoholic who's been sober since he was 40. After I wrote a column about teen drinking, Fox told me how concerned he was about the direction his industry has taken, especially in designing products that target kids.

``These things look like soda pop,'' he said. ``A kid could be drinking it and not even know what he's drinking.''

How does an alcoholic justify his career selling alcohol? Fox says drinking is a choice, and a bad choice for some people. But he says for kids, it's always a bad choice. He obviously struggles with the fact that his company distributes some of these products.

Fox took me on a tour of a Mountain View liquor store to check out the vast array of kid-friendly products. He showed me the chocolate beer and the Jack Daniels Black Jack Cola. The pink drinks, blue drinks, bright green drinks. The drinks packed in cartoon cartons. The drinks packed in little purses.

Edible cocktails

Then he showed me the Wet Willy ``edible cocktails,'' which look like Jell-O snack packs but, according to the fine print, are 12 percent alcohol by volume.

Can't you imagine some kid handing one to a friend on the playground?

``Hey, look what my big brother gave me. It tastes really good and makes arithmetic class a lot more fun.''

The Alcohol Policy Network has been trying to get Wet Willys banned from convenience stores and neighborhood groceries for four years, with no success.

And now Kiley and other advocates are bracing for the next craze coming soon to a liquor store near you: ShotPaks. Little single-serving plastic bags of flavored vodka that fit in your pocket and have names like ``Lemon Drops'' and ``Purple Hooters.''

``Can you believe these things?'' Fox asked me.

Unfortunately, yeah. I can.

As Kiley said, the alcohol industry has learned a lesson from Big Tobacco: Hook your customers early, and they are more likely to become addicted. Get them in their teens, and you'll have them for the rest of their lives.

Robert's parents were both alcoholics, and it eventually killed them. His childhood was a blur of chaos, violence and alcohol -his mother even drank while she was pregnant. So it was no surprise when Robert, too, began to drink heavily, and his surroundings only encouraged the habit. "A lot of my friends and family drank," said Robert, who now attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Harlingen. Robert's last name isn't used to protect his identity. "A friend pushed me to get drunk the first time - after that, every time I drank, I drank to get drunk." Twenty-three percent of border Hispanics ages 18 to 25 reported an alcohol problem, compared to 15 percent nationwide.

A report by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University found that Hispanic youth see even more alcohol-related advertising than non-Hispanics, at least in part because of exposure to Spanish- and English-language media. Most alcohol-advertising dollars are spent on programs that appeal to Hispanic youth, the study also found.

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Coors and the Hispanic Community

In the beer bars outside the upscale World Trade Centre shopping mall in downtown Bangkok, the competition is fierce.Attractive young waitresses, their tight dresses bearing the logos of popular beers, weave through the crowd proferring big glass towers of drinks. Hundreds pack the trestle tables chugging back litres and litres of the golden brew while back-lit beer logos glow against the skyline.

For advertisers of beer and other alcoholic drinks, this week could be their last hurrah -- at least for a while.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Four Sacramento young people testified today before the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) in a bid to reduce underage drinking by increasing the taxes collected on "alcopops."

The teens charged that so-called "flavored malt beverages" actually contain distilled spirits and should be taxed at the higher rate reserved for whiskey or vodka ($3.30/gallon), not beer (.20/gallon), as required by California law. The youth asserted that in addition to increasing state tax revenue by approximately $40 million, taxing alcopops as distilled spirits "would raise the price, thereby reducing [their] appeal to young people."

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Youth Groups take Battle to BOE

County commissioners across Nebraska are taking on the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission and its designation of "alcopops" -- sweet, fruity "starter drinks" marketed to young people -- as beer.

Red Willow County commissioners Monday morning signed a resolution in support of the "Project Extra Mile: Underage Drinking Prevention Project" originated by Douglas County Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson.

Effective Jan. 1, 2004, the Nebraska liquor commission called flavored alcohol beverages "distilled spirits," but reclassified them as "beer" on July 31, 2006. This reclassification, Borgeson said, "has allowed the alcohol industry to continue to profit at the expense of Nebraska's children."

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Alcopops Action Center

LONDON - Bacardi's latest poster campaign, which highlights the low-calorie content of Bacardi & Diet Cola, is set to court controversy with the Advertising Standards Authority and alcohol charities.

The poster, which reads "Bacardi & Diet Cola. 0 sugar. 0 carbs. 52 calories", could fall foul of a grey area in Ofcom regulations on alcohol advertising, which states that while alcohol ads can contain factual statements about product contents, including comparisons, they must not make health, fitness or weight-control claims.

A spokeswoman for the ASA said that while it had so far received no complaints about the poster, Bacardi may have a case to answer.

Alcohol Concern branded the ad irresponsible. "I think there is something slightly disturbing about selling an alcoholic drink as a dietary aid," said a spokesman.

The ad, which was created in the US and adapted in-house by Bacardi for the UK, contains small print which states that the information is based on a 25ml measure of Bacardi Blanca Rum, containing 51 calories, 0g carbs, 0g protein and 0g fat, and a 200ml serving of a leading diet cola brand containing one calorie.

No one at Bacardi-Martini was available for comment.

Source of Article
Beer Industry Taps into Fitness

There was a time when Jim Beam and Jack Daniels were barred from our TV screens and grocery stores.

Ten years ago, however, that changed.

Losing ground to aggressive beer marketers, liquor manufacturers ended their self-imposed ban on television ads.

And in Ohio, the state relinquished its monopoly on sales of distilled spirits and other high-powered alcoholic beverages, turning the business over to the neighborhood grocery.

Today, Ohioans are lapping it up, drinking 25 percent more hard liquor since the two changes came in 1996.

So the question of increased consumption across the state comes on the 10th anniversary of the two events: Are we drinking more because of the once-banned ads and the convenience of buying the liquor at our local supermarket?

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Most people are aware of the Thai Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)'s intent to enforce a total ban on alcohol advertising in the kingdom. The ban, which was originally scheduled to take force on Dec 3, has been the subject of considerable debate regarding its scope and the FDA's legitimacy to institute such restrictions.

This debate, including the Council of State's recent opinion challenging the FDA's authority to implement the ban, resulted late last week in an FDA decision to postpone implementation of the ban for 30 days pending formal review by the Council of State. Regardless of what decision the Council of State makes, it is likely that Thailand will see this or a similar act banning alcohol advertising in the near future, and perhaps as early as January 2007.

While much of the discussion focuses on how this will affect major liquor producers and advertisers, there has been little analysis of the impact on other business sectors, such as restaurants, convenience stores and entertainment operators. This is partly the result of the broad draft of the advertising ban, which has been criticized for lacking clarity. By providing a basic analysis of how we believe the proposed law will affect these operators, we hope to assist in planning for its inevitable arrival.

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Fight Brewing as Ad Ban Looms

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Heeding the pleas of teenagers to help curb underage drinking, California authorities have moved to raise taxes on sugary alcohol beverages and remove them from convenience stories.

Drinks such as Smirnoff Ice, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Bacardi Silver will cost as much as $2 more per six-pack if a state tax board reclassifies them as distilled spirits rather than beer.

California would be only the second state to treat "alcopops" as hard liquor. Maine is the other.

"When you're selling a product that is flavored with distilled spirits, that you're marketing as distilled spirits, I think common sense dictates that it should be taxed as distilled spirits," Westly said. "I see no public-policy rationale why we should provide a lower tax rate to companies that are promoting distilled spirits to young people in California."

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Youth Groups Fight Alcopops

Spirits — alcoholic, not holiday — are on the agenda of tonight’s meeting of the Fremont Public Schools board of education.

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Street Education and Administration Center, Ninth and Main streets. On tap is discussion of a resolution of support calling for the reversal of a July 2006 decision by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission that reclassified flavored alcoholic beverages, or “alcopops,” as beer rather than distilled spirits.

Project Extra Mile, an underage drinking prevention program, is sponsoring the resolution which claims the classification benefits the alcohol industry, as taxes on beer are 31 cents per gallon compared with the $3.75 per gallon tax on distilled spirits.

The resolution also says alcopops are “starter drinks” particularly popular among 14- to 18nyear-old girls and that classifying the products as beer increases their accessibility to young people as beer products can be sold at 1,535 locations in Nebraska while spirits can be sold at 718 off-premise locations.

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More on Alcopops and Taxes

Executives at Anheuser-Busch have decided to pursue another direction in their marketing of the Busch brand and will not renew their relationship with NASCAR when the sponsorship expires, after 25 seasons, at the end of 2007.

Busch's Budweiser will continue to be the "official beer of NASCAR," writes The Charlotte (South Carolina) Observer. The beer will also continue to sponsor driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's pole awards, and the annual Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

NASCAR is now in the process of finding a new title sponsor for the Anheuser-Busch series. Already, some big name brands have shown interest in taking Busch's place. Those include Wal-Mart, Samsung, and Subway, with Subway being the least likely of the three, according to sources.

Subway already sponsors a Nextel Cup Series team and two races.

NASCAR has inked a new TV deal with ESPN, which will take over broadcast of the Busch schedule. ESPN will reportedly play a large role in helping NASCAR find a new series sponsor.

Busch's announcement follows on the heels of published reports that packaged goods giant Procter & Gamble will be increasing its emphasis on sports marketing.

Source
Alcohol and Sports, an Unhealthy Mix

Three-inch alcoholic Spykes are beginning to cause a stir in the Sturgis area.

The Anheuser-Busch product has the potential of being dangerous for children, local officials say.

“My concern is that this is such a blatant example of the alcohol industry marketing to youth,” said Rob Olsen, superintendent of Sturgis Public Schools.

Olsen first learned about the product through Jane Dickey, director of Sturgis Youth and Family. Dickey has been showing the bottles to teachers and principals.

She said their first reaction to the product is “that’s shampoo.” Others think the product looks like cologne, mouth wash or nail polish.

“As educators and as the director of this organization that’s trying desperately to help prevent underage drinking, this is something we want parents to be aware of,” Dickey said.

Source

Two Novato women who served alcohol at a party that turned tragic when two teens died in a drunken driving wreck were sentenced Monday to six months in the custody of the Marin County Sheriff's Office.

A third defendant, Coady James Makinson, 19, of Novato was sentenced to three months in custody for a misdemeanor offense, but will serve in a jail alternative program.

The three faced charges in Marin Superior Court in the deaths of Scott Raymond Van Hootegem, 18, and Alexander Scott Hunt, 19, who were killed in a crash early the morning of Nov. 12, 2005, after drinking at Bauer's 18th birthday party in Ignacio.

In handing down the sentences, Judge Kelly Simmons said the situation was unfortunate for all involved.

"Obviously, this is a tragic incident and to some degree it is not surprising," Simmons said. "When you play with fire, someone's going to get hurt."

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Adult Accountability