Alcohol Companies Use New Media to Lure Young Drinkers: Report

As someone who spent many years working on a alcohol brand in the media industry this article couldn't be further from the truth. No one except the alcohol company and their media agency knows how much effort and man hours go into insuring that the brands do not target underage demographics.

These advocacy groups do nothing but use scare tactics, use statistics incorrectly and out right lie.

Not one alcohol company encourages underage drinking, in fact all alcohol companies spend millions of dollars in campaigns to help families communicate about drinking and drunk driving.

This is a regulated industry that closely follows the rules of the road and most times goes far above and beyond the codes and the spirit of the regulations in place. It's a shame that John Q. Public doesn't know this.

It's about time that families take the responsibility of teaching their children about alcohol and all that drinking entails instead of looking for someone else to do their job, raising responsible children.

Sue of IL 7:10PM May 20, 2010

Why is it automatically assumed that these companies are targeting the under 21 crowd? Why is that because they change their marketing strategies or offer free products or giveaways that these so called consumer advocates assume they could only be geared towards kids? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?

This is as bad as the government telling tobacco companies that the use of light, ultra light, etc is appealing to kids. It's garbage. The drinking age in other countries are a lot lower than that of the US. They don't have problems so why should we?

Somebody needs to put their foot down and stop the government and these so called consumer advocates from controlling every aspect of a company. Enough is Enough. The use of the internet and social media is marketing their products to their target audience; 21+.

These consumer advocates have nothing better to do on a daily basis then to find things "they" don't feel right about and push it higher until they get what they want.

The US would be a better place without these so called consumer advocates. If you don't want your kids smoking or drinking but still find them on the website or the social media site, it's not the fault of the alcohol or tobacco companies, it's your fault for not teaching your child better.

Ben of VA 1:20PM May 20, 2010