Alcohol-Branded Apparel Linked to Adolescent Drinking

Reader Comments
Back to article

Come on. I do not, at all, believe that beer companies are trying to sell beer to kids. I mean, honestly, if they were, they'd have to be pretty crappy at advertisements because the amount of underage drinking has been drastically decreasing. Also, a lot of the beer shirts people buy are probably made by a separate companies illegally.

Anonymous of OH 9:28PM September 03, 2010

FrLFfl

Yzlbluzr of SD 5:55PM July 14, 2009

i love alcohol because jamie foxx says its coool :))))) yeah alcohol

tyler of ME 1:52PM May 26, 2009

"If underage kids choose to drink, they will find a way to drink no matter what the law says...you did, I did, and they will too."
KJ, you missed the point. Kids "choose to drink" because they're surrounded by pro-alcohol messages. Todd's thoughts about parents educating their kids are interesting. But as we learn more about about it, it seems that kids who are allowed to drink at home--even in very small amounts,under parental supervision--don't behave any more responsibly around alcohol when they're off the leash on a given Friday night.
"Kids that have cool drinking clothes will drink" is exactly the point--if your kid owns a shirt with a beer logo on it, he's gonna be more likely to drink. If you, as a parent, tell your child it's okay to have a beer company logo on his chest, but not okay for him to drink when you're not supervising him...what message is he going to receive? Drink up, kiddo.
Additionally, the beer company shill who was quoted in the article wasn't entirely accurate. I have seen beer tee-shirts in children's sizes (including one on a seven-year-old girl). And even the adult-sized shirts are sold in the youth departments of some national-chain stores. Additionally, many alcohol-branded clothing items are sold in smaller shops that cater exclusively to young people between 16 and 25 years old.
And face it, once you're over 21 do you even WANT to wear a hat or tee shirt with a beer company logo on it? What's the point? Beer tee-shirts and hats are all about brand-marketing to children.

Rob H. of CA 8:09PM May 12, 2009

Education is critical to preventing underage drinking. Studies show that those teens making the decision not to drink do so because of clearly set expectations by parents. In other words, they don't drink because they do not want to disappoint parents.
Underage drinking is a very complicated issue, with many contributing factors. Even without spending significant funding for researchers, common sense suggests that glorifying products on T-shirts, television or otherwise tends to influence use. That's why the beer industry has spent billions advertising their product in a multitude of approaches. T-shirt vendors cannot display a particular product brand on the shirt without a license from the manufacturer.
We must begin the process of educating our children about drugs (alcohol is an addictive drug and 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.) and other destructive decisions at a very early age.
By the way, in my opinion, allowing children to drink with a parent is not one of the ways to educate them about alcohol. As a teaching lesson, you don't teach responsible behavior with irresponsible acts. Further, the research at every level consistently debunks the notion that children can be taught by parents to drink responsibly. There is a scientific reason for this - children lack the developmental capacity enjoyed by mature adults. Therefore, drinking with parents is just a free opportunity for a child to drink with parental approval. Since this is one of the "myths" complicating underage drinking prevention, it has been researched exhaustively. Consistently, it's found that children allowed to drink with their parents, when outside of the presence of their misguided parents, drink just as recklessly and dangerously, if not more so, than teens not enjoying such misguided parental tolerance. Again, it goes back to the lack of brain development, which is not fully developed until about age 25. That's why youth take the risks they do - it's why they will vow to never drink at a school assembly on Wednesday, mean what they say, and then get drunk with friends on Friday. By the way, their parents, in most instances, will be completely oblivious to how dangerously their children drink or whether they drink at all.
So education is the key - beginning with the adults. It's hard to convince the children if the parents don't believe it or model it. Once we've convinced the adults (like happened with tobacco products), we can hope to see a similar reduction in teen use of alchol. Hopefully, if adults realize the undisputable medical science about the dangers of underage drinking (just like with tobacco - we didn't know what we didn't know), they will not be willing to risk the life, health and future of their children, often defending use, by desperately clinging to untrue "myths" about teens and alcohol.

REB of NC 4:05PM March 05, 2009

I agree with Todd! Truthful, direct education and communication are really the only way to do make a difference and do any real good with the issues of underage drinking and abusive drinking. We need to start with educating parents, teachers and community leaders along with our children, as to the TRUTHFUL facts of how alcohol affects the human body, what consequences they may face; physically, mentally and legally, if alcohol is used at too young of an age or mis-used at any age. Adding legislation like this article suggests will not do a thing! If underage kids choose to drink, they will find a way to drink no matter what the law says...you did, I did, and they will too. However, if they had a true and real understanding of all the facts, and current laws and their consequences, it might make a difference when they are faced with that decision. If our kids get even the slightest notion that we as adults are not being truthful and sincere with them, they shut down and don't trust us or listen to us. That is why we need to stop with all these ridicules "studies" that kids will just laugh at. Put that money into educational programs and give them real, tangible facts that they can relate to and grasp on to. Teach them good decision making skills, how to weigh all the consequences of making poor decisions and how those decisions can affect them for the rest of their lives. I realize that kids do not reason the same way adults do, nor do they have the experience behind them to do that, so we need to make sure the information we give them about these issues is very straight forward. Parents need to understand their responsibility when it comes to using alcohol so they can pass that on to their children. Community programs, school programs, church programs...EDUCATION is the answer!

KJ of CO 4:12PM March 03, 2009

I don't think teens should drink.
Having read the entire article, I don't see how the study controlled for the dependent and independent variables.
Kids who will drink will want cool drinking clothes. Kids that have cool drinking clothes will drink. It's hard to know which is the cart and which is the horse. For all we know they could be apples and oranges.
I've noticed that the families with the greenest lawn buy the most pesticides. I don't like the use of pesticides, so I don't think anyone should have a green lawn.
Here's how you keep your kids from drinking, without restricting how we advertise or what our kids wear: Talk to your children about the use and dangers of drinking and lead by example. Have them drink with you, at home, at dinner, so they can get some experience before being thrown into the world unprepared.
TEACH your kids how to be an adult before forcing them to be one.
Todd

Todd Gatts of NC 6:10PM March 02, 2009