Madison County Council on  Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc.
 
 

 


Written by: Cassie Meltzer, Cody Chambers, Emily King

Over the summer we have been going around our community assessing the stores and their placement of alcohol products, advertisements, and warnings in association with a group called S.W.A.T (Students Working for Alcohol Truths). What we found was shocking and appalling! The stores were very poor in the way in which they sold and advertised their alcohol products. We believe that such irresponsible behavior is leading more underage youth to drink alcohol.

We found several stores in our community that had very negligent conduct involving their alcohol products, advertisements, and warnings. Many of the stores had toys and other items that would appeal to children in the vicinity of the alcoholic beverages. Some stores that were or were near popular hangouts for youth had large advertisements and/or neon signs for alcoholic items in their windows and throughout the store. One other thing we discovered was that few stores selling alcohol had the proper warning signs. Those that did have them often had them placed so they were not easily seen or had old dirty warning signs that did not draw attention because of all the colorful ads around them.

Everyday more than 5,400 kids under the age of 16 take their first drink. We believe that the things we mentioned above as well as the constant onslaught of alcohol ads in magazines, on TV, and on the Internet is contributing to this underage drinking. In one study of children 9 to 11, they found that the kids were more familiar with the Budweiser Frogs than Tony the Tiger, the Power Rangers, and Smokey the Bear. This can't be allowed to continue. There needs to be stricter restrictions on alcohol companies to keep them from targeting underage drinkers. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
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