KIDS AND COMMUNITY: Alcohol ads are lacking responsibility

Kids and Community by Judy Shepps Battle: Advertisements from alcohol companies convey the wrong message.

By: Judy Shepps Battle
   It’s a 30-second TV commercial showing adults in a bar, eating and enjoying a variety of beers, wine and mixed drinks. There’s dance music playing in the background, and the message, both spoken and superimposed, is short and direct:
   "Here’s to conversation over dinner out instead of over television. Here’s to places where they remember your name. Here’s to the millions of Americans who, every night of the week, enjoy an evening out with close friends and drinking adult beverages responsibly."
   The spot ends with the simple advisory, "Drink Responsibly. Drive Responsibly," along with the logo of the American Beverage Institute.
   The lesson is clear — it is acceptable to have a drink (or drinks) with dinner and/or before driving home because people want to drink responsibly. Individuals will not knowingly exceed a safe level.
   Unfortunately, the ad does not help adults determine what is safe or responsible for them.
   It does not say how many drinks can be safely consumed over a given time or how this number is affected by a person’s weight. It does not warn women who may be pregnant of the effects of alcohol on a developing fetus. It does not alert drinkers to potentially harmful interactions of drugs — both over-the-counter and prescription — and alcohol.
   It does not accurately represent the latest research on the relationship between alcohol and auto accidents.
   Just as importantly, it is one more message to our kids about the attractiveness of drinking alcohol.
Zero tolerance and "creeping prohibition"
   The TV commercial described above is part of a larger campaign designed by the ABI and the American Beverage Licensees to counteract increasing public support of zero-tolerance for combining drinking and driving. A recent Gallup survey states that nearly one of every two adults (48 percent) support zero tolerance for persons of any age who drive after consuming any alcohol.
   The industry has responded by calling zero tolerance a symptom of "creeping prohibition" in this country. "Prohibition may have been dead for 70 years now, but neo-prohibition is alive and kicking," says the ABI.
   The ABI Web site warns of an anti-alcohol movement dedicated to diminishing per capita consumption by such strategies as limiting marketing or increasing taxes on alcohol products. It urges industry members to learn about "the players involved and the lengths these groups will go to harass your customers."
   In its zeal to avoid diminished revenue, the alcohol industry minimizes the relationship between alcohol and auto accidents.
Auto accidents and alcohol
   
In 2001, more than 17,000 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes, accounting for approximately 41 percent of all U.S. traffic deaths. That number rose 3 percent last year to 17,970 individuals.
   We all know that someone who is drunk — having a blood alcohol content of .08 to .10, depending upon geographical location — shouldn’t drive. But how many people are aware of the effects of one or two drinks on a driver’s reaction time?
   A study at Texas A&M’s Center for Alcohol and Drug Education indicated that a driver with a BAC as low as .04 (the equivalent of about two drinks for a 140-pound man) can experience loss of skill. Diminished judgment in some individuals was seen after drinking as little as one beer.
   Passengers also are affected by alcohol consumption.
Effects on passengers
   
The University of Michigan Injury Research Center recently released a report showing that crash victims — both driver and passengers — who have alcohol in their systems are more than one and a half times more likely to experience a severe injury than those who haven’t been drinking.
   In addition, the severity of these injuries was 30 percent higher than those of their sober peers.
   Ronald Maio, director of the University of Michigan study, warns that "we as a society may be grossly underestimating the burden of injury attributable to alcohol…Anyone who drinks before getting in a motor vehicle, even as a passenger, should give themselves more time to sober up and stop drinking long before they leave." Perhaps this idea should also be a part of the alcohol industry’s advertisement campaign.
A constant exposure
   
The "Drink Responsibly. Drive Responsibly" TV commercial aired nationwide in April of this year. The sponsors — ABI and ABL — estimate that 10 million viewers saw this initial run.
   They didn’t say how many of these viewers were teenagers or younger.
   If the 30-second "Drink Responsibly. Drive Responsibly" commercial was the only ad a youngster saw, it would be insignificant. But kids are constantly exposed to alcohol advertisements.
   • Of the almost 209,000 alcohol ads on television, nearly 25 percent were viewed mainly by teenagers.
   • Underage youth, ages 12-20, heard eight percent more beer and ale advertising and 14 percent more distilled-spirits advertising on radio than adults.
   • Almost all alcohol retailers have some form of alcohol marketing both in and outside of their stores. Forty-four percent have interior "low-height" advertisements — advertisements placed at the eye level of a 6-year-old.
   This repeated exposure to attractive alcohol ads is a significant factor in making a youngster receptive to taking his or her first underage drink.
   Perhaps the alcohol industry should follow their own advice and advertise responsibly by warning consumers of the possible adverse effects of drinking their products and making advertisements less accessible to kids.
Judy Shepps Battle is a New Jersey resident, addictions specialist, consultant and freelance writer. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].