Reducing Underage Drinking A Collective Responsibility (2004) / Chapter Skim
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7. Alcohol Industry
7. Alcohol Industry
Pages 125-144
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From page 125... ...
That is at least part of what it meant to be a "publican" -- a position of significant status and responsibility in colonial society. That idea survives today in the licensing requirements for drinking establishments, in the existence of a structure of server liability, and in the commitment of the alcohol producers to encourage responsible drinking.
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From page 126... ...
Although the evidence regarding the causal effects of alcohol advertising on underage consumption is inconclusive, it has been amply documented that there is a large underage market for alcohol, that advertising reaches a substantial underage audience, and that many commercial alcohol messages are particularly appealing to youth. In the committee's judgment, this evidence warrants more aggressive selfregulatory efforts to reduce youth exposure to advertising.
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From page 127... ...
Whatever the precise amount, however, it is highly likely that underage drinking accounts for a significant proportion of the alcohol market, especially for beer. INDUSTRY PROGRAMS TO REDUCE AND PREVENT UNDERAGE DRINKING In recognition of the high prevalence of underage and illegal drinking, the alcohol industry has declared its collective support of the 21-year-old minimum drinking age and has undertaken efforts to discourage alcohol use by underage youths.
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From page 128... ...
, a national trade association representing producers and marketers of distilled sprits and importers of wines sold in the United States, recently provided funding to a number of colleges to implement alcohol action plans. DISCUS also supports the programs funded by the Century Council,3 a nonprofit entity established in 1991 that reports having invested "more than $120 million" over the last 10 years "in programs that fight against the misuse of their products." The Century Council defines its core activities as being aimed at four objectives, two of which focus on drunk driving and two of which focus specifically on underage drinking: · educate middle-school through college students, their parents, teachers, and adult caregivers about the importance of making responsible decisions regarding beverage alcohol; · inform the public about how gender, weight, and number and type of drink affect an individual's blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
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From page 129... ...
A recent study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (2003) studied "responsibility advertising" by the alcohol industry on television in 2001 and reported that industry spent $23.2 million to air 2,379 responsibility messages (discouraging underage drinking and drunk driving)
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From page 130... ...
Based on our own review of the materials submitted by industry representatives, the alcohol prevention literature, and the other materials and testimony submitted to the committee, we believe that industry efforts to prevent and reduce underage drinking, however sincere, should be redirected and strengthened. Recommendation 7-1: All segments of the alcohol industry that profit from underage drinking, inadvertently or otherwise, should join with other private and public partners to establish and fund an independent nonprofit foundation with the sole mission of reducing and preventing underage drinking.
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From page 131... ...
.5 Until the proposed foundation has been established, the committee believes that the alcohol industry should take two immediate steps to redirect the resources and activities currently devoted to preventing underage drinking and to move toward the strategy recommended by the committee. 5A bill developed by the California Alcohol Policy Reform Initiative and pending before the California Assembly, would impose a "fee" on alcohol producers based on the producers' respective shares of the underage market.
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From page 132... ...
, but even if the companies are not targeting young people, abundant evidence shows that a large proportion of these commercial messages and promotional activities do, in fact, reach underage audiences. The current practice of some companies -- advertising on television programs with an audience that is at least 50 percent adult -- routinely allows placement of alcohol advertising on programs for which the percentage of underage viewers is higher than the percentage of underage children in the United States (Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2002b)
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From page 133... ...
Alcohol advertising is designed to highlight the attractions of using alcohol, especially to enhance the enjoyment of social occasions, and to induce or persuade potential consumers to feel favorably toward the promoted product. Even though these messages may not be intentionally targeted at youths under 21, messages aimed at "young adults" (e.g., ages 21to 25-year-olds)
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From page 134... ...
, experimental and ecological studies have produced little evidence that alcohol advertising affects drinking beliefs, behaviors, or problems among young people. Recent survey evidence (further described below)
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From page 135... ...
The ongoing dispute about whether alcohol advertising causes underage drinking is tied to the legal controversy over whether governmentimposed bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising would violate the First Amendment because the constitutionality of any significant limitations on advertising imposed by the government would probably turn on the strength of the evidence on causation. However, this emphasis on the constitutionality of government intervention, and the accompanying preoccupation with proof of causation, overlooks the paramount importance of self-regulation by the alcohol industry.
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From page 136... ...
that have substantial underage appeal and should take reasonable precautions in the time, place, and manner of placement and promotion to reduce youthful exposure to other alcohol advertising and marketing activity. Use of images or other content uniquely or unusually attractive to children provides highly persuasive evidence of an intention to target an illegal, underage audience.
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From page 137... ...
Although the committee believes the 1999 FTC recommendations are too weak in some respects, alcohol producers, wholesalers, and their trade associations should implement those recommendations forthwith, as an expression of good faith and as a signal of their willingness to become active partners in the nation's campaign to reduce underage drinking. Recommendation 7-3: The alcohol industry trade associations, as well as individual companies, should strengthen their advertising codes to preclude placement of commercial messages in venues where a signifi cant proportion of the expected audience is underage, to prohibit the use of commercial messages that have substantial underage appeal, and to establish independent external review boards to investigate com plaints and enforce the codes.
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From page 138... ...
A 25 percent threshold would preclude alcohol advertising on 16.4 percent of programs if the base includes children under 12 and 8.2 percent if it excludes children under 12. Over time, the industry standard should move toward a 15 percent threshold for television advertising,7 a standard currently being considered 7According to figures provided to the committee by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, a 15 percent threshold would preclude alcohol advertising on 34.0 percent of programs if the base includes children under 12 and 19.2 percent if it excludes children under 12.
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From page 139... ...
In relation to liquor advertising, increasing young adult exposure was accompanied by increased youth Assuming that alcohol advertising dollars would be redeployed to programs with audience compositions below the threshold, a 15 percent threshold (using a base of 12 and older) would reduce youth gross rating points (the industry standard measure of exposure)
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From page 140... ...
. Based on these data, adoption of a 25 percent threshold, would reflect a meaningful commitment to alter otherwise lawful magazine advertising practices to reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising.9 As with television advertising, however, the industry should consider eventually moving toward a 15 percent threshold to further reduce the number of youth who are exposed to advertising intended for adults.
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From page 141... ...
Companies would also limit the "spillover" appeal to underage drinkers by targeting their alcohol messages to an audience that is no younger than 25. 10For example, the Wine Institute Code of Advertising Standards states that wine advertisements should not "use music, language, gestures, cartoon characters, or depictions, images, figures, or objects that are popular predominantly with children or otherwise specifically associated with or directed toward those below the legal drinking age, including the use of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny." The Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code provides that "advertising and marketing materials should not employ any symbol, language, music, gesture, or cartoon character that is intended to appeal primarily to persons below the legal purchase age." To "appeal primarily" to youth means having "special attractiveness to such persons above and beyond the general attractiveness it has for persons above the legal purchase age, including young adults above the legal purchase age." The Code of Good Practice for Distilled Spirits Advertising and Marketing provides that distilled spirits advertising and marketing materials "should not depict a child or portray objects, images, or cartoon figures that are popular predominantly with children."
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From page 142... ...
However, these media have a social responsibility to try to avoid or reduce youth exposure to unsuitable alcohol messages. Obviously, alcohol companies do not have complete control over artistic decisions to display or use their products in films or other entertainment media.
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From page 143... ...
The report should in clude information on the underage percentage of the exposed audience and estimated number of underage viewers for print and broadcasting alcohol advertising in national markets and, for television and radio broadcasting, in a selection of large local or regional markets. In Chapter 12, the committee recommends that a market surveillance mechanism be established to monitor underage use of alcohol according to
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From page 144... ...
THE SPECIAL CASE OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES Colleges and universities should ban alcohol advertising and promotion on campus. Currently, 72 percent of colleges and universities prohibit on-campus alcohol advertising and 62 percent prohibit industry sponsorship of athletic events.
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