Page: C02

Son of Joe Camel

The Alcohol Industry's Underhanded Bid to Sell Spirits to Kids and
How It Was Blocked

By Amitai Etzioni

Sunday, August 17, 1997; Page C02
The Washington Post

Marketing industry insiders call them "training wheels," products sold
to teenagers and children to entice them and, ultimately, to get them
hooked. Apple computers, donated to schools, are considered training
wheels. Less benign are intoxicating new products called "alcopops,"
the liquor industry's equivalent of Joe Camel.

Alcopops are lemonades, colas and fruitflavored frozen malts that
typically contain 4 percent to 6 percent alcohol, often more than
beer. Sold in colorful packages, squeeze pouches and soda bottles,
they bear such catchy names as "Freeze and Squeeze," "Yellow Belly"
and "Two Dogs Lemon Brew." They sometimes carry flashy logos similar
to those of nonalcoholic fruit drinks and teas. Designed to appeal to
teenagers, alcopops have been placed in bins that contain ice cream
bars and fruit drinks, rather than in the coolers that hold beer and
wine.

Still, you are not likely to find many kids popping these
alcohollaced juices any time soon. The story of how the lid was kept
on alcopops is worth telling not only because it may help prevent
teenage (and adult) alcoholism from rising even faster, but because it
provides a fine primer in civic action.

Alcopops were testmarketed in five U.S. cities this summer by
McKenzie River Corp., maker of St. Ides malt liquors. Pouches of the
product were shipped to New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco
and Chicago reaching about 50 shops per city, most of them reported
to be in minority neighborhoods. St. Ides specializes in the kind of
cheap, strong malt liquors that primarily are bought by black and
Hispanic men.

When alcopops first appeared, they were met with a wave of protest,
especially in New York City. The press ran unfavorable reports;
borough presidents protested the marketing ploy in no uncertain terms,
stating it was directly aimed at children and minorities; civic and
church groups joined in; the city's commissioner of consumer affairs
expressed dismay.

City inspectors cited a delicatessen in Harlem for selling the drinks
to minors. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who occasionally stands up to
business, threatened to shut down the offending stores unless they
ceased sales. From Washington, the critical voice of the Alcohol
Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest was
heard. In California, where similar products popped up in packages
resembling KoolAid, priced at less than a buck, two Los Angeles
assemblymen threatened action.

Within days, McKenzie River Corp. announced that it would withdraw the
offending pops from the shelves.

Lesson 1: Civic action has the best chance to succeed when it starts
early. This lesson is highlighted by the example of what has happened
in Britain, where alcopops have been sold for several years, and
eliminating them has proven to be difficult. One survey found that as
many as four out of 10 children had at least tasted the beverages. In
Britain, alcohol has even been included in milk products marketed
under names such as "Moo" and "Super Milch," and in Popsiclestyle
treats which, unlike the American products, are not even labeled as
containing alcohol. Some children as young as 4 have fallen ill on
them.

"I wonder when they will bring out a bottle with a teat on it," said
Eric Appleby, director of Londonbased Alcohol Concern. Even the new
Labor government, concerned about these pops, has not found a way to
stop them although a few leading chain stores, including Coop and
Sainsbury, have agreed to drop them.

Lesson 2: Coalitions make it happen. Consumer activists often rely on
the government to pass laws or regulations to safeguard the public.
However, as our experiences with Prohibition, the war on drugs and the
crackdown on cigarettes all show, government alone cannot do the job.
The fact that in rapid succession the press, consumer activists,
churches and public officials all joined together is probably the main
reason for the success of the New York City drive. It takes a village
to keep the lid on.

Alcohol marketers argue that they only are selling what the public
wants to buy, and that these products are aimed at drinkingage
adults. They often fall back on a libertarian argument repeated
frequently by tobacco companies: This is a free country, adults have a
right to choose, they know they must live with the consequences of
their actions, but if they choose to lead a risky life, we are not to
stop them. Next thing, the industries claim, the government will ban
sky diving and skiing. Before the alcopops issue arose, Stephen K.
Lambright, a vice president at AnheuserBusch Inc., said the brewery
would continue to exercise "our right to advertise lawful products to
adult customers throughout the United States, in the media of our
choosing."

Consumer activists respond that advertising appeals to motives of
which individuals may be unaware or are unable to control. And when it
comes to addictive products, young consumers often do not understand
how difficult it is to break the habit once it is acquired. Children
are another matter. They, of course, are not expected to make reasoned
choices and clearly need protection. That's why Joe Camel has received
his death sentence and TV programs got ratings. Who knows, next maybe
we can get the junk out of children's TV.

Lesson 3: It's too early to celebrate. The alcohol industry's profits
are stagnant. It has been looking for ways to entice new customers. In
Canada, where the sales of alcoholic lemonade preceded those in the
United States, alcopops are "the most successful launch of a new
beverage product in a decade," according to William R. Sharpe, CEO of
Lakeport Brewing Corp. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Bass
Brewing Co. reports brisk sales of "Hooper's Hooch," a lemonflavored
beverage that contains 4.7 percent alcohol and is being marketed as a
"refreshing alternative" to beer.

Last year, the British company Thornlodge Ltd., was reported to be
negotiating with a distributor to market another alcopop called "Mrs.
Pucker's" in the United States. A Minneapolis company recently won
approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to market
ice creams with a level of alcohol slightly lower than other alcopops,
but dressed up in bright colors and reprising such names as "Pink
Squirrel" and "Grasshopper," the frothy cocktail concoctions of an
earlier era.

Nobody's selling a quiescently frozen, 10proof Camel's Nose yet, but
check the ice cream bin next time you shop and keep those flyers
handy and phone banks ready.

Amitai Etzioni, author of "The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality
in a Democratic Society," is director of the George Washington
University Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies.

(c)Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company