Scanning through the "Thumbs Down" archives over at the Marin Institute web site, I came across a few noteworthy examples of the social irresponsibility shown by the liquor industry. There are, of course, a gang of such actions but I applaud the Institute for shining a light on them...and for effectively eliciting the public's help to change things as you'll see happened in a few of these instances. Good job. Thumbs Down...to Anheuser-Busch for targeting young women with its new product line of alcoholic fruit juice called "Peels." A-B's newest alcopops come in flavors such as strawberry-passion fruit and cranberry-peach and are promoted in health spas and beauty salons to reach the young, female demographic. Even though research shows that alcopops are the drink of choice for teen girls, and binge drinking is skyrocketing among young women, A-B doesn't see a public health problem-it sees a new way to profit at the expense of young women's health.
Thumbs Down...to Jim Beam for partnering with youth-friendly Starbucks Coffee Company in creating a coffee liqueur that will be sold in licensed alcohol retailers, much like Kahlua and Bailey's Irish cream. Starbucks' news product is likely to be popular in a category where coffee liqueurs already account for more than 2 million of the 20 million cases of cordials and liqueurs sold each year in the U.S.
Thumbs Down...to Anheuser-Busch spokesperson Francine Katz who asserted that her company's promotion of "Bud Pong" does not encourage binge drinking because the official rules call for using water, not beer. "Beer pong"-where players make the other team drink by tossing a ping pong ball into their cup of beer-is a popular high school and college drinking game Yet, the world's largest beer maker professed surprise that some players were using beer instead of water. Anheuser-Busch eventually withdrew the game in response to criticism.
Thumbs Down...to Anheuser-Busch for using a Harvard professor to promote the health benefits of beer drinking. Brewers are prohibited from making health claims in ads, so they need others, such as Meir Stampfer of the Harvard School of Public Health, to do their dirty work. Anheuser-Busch, which contributed $150,000 to the school, sponsored events where Stampfer touted the health benefits of moderate drinking. Following coverage in the Wall Street Journal and outcry from the public health community, Stampfer discontinued speaking at the brewer's events.
