Litigation Battle Over Alcohol Industry Marketing to Minors Just Beginning.

The American Bar Association Journal (BATTLE OVER LIQUOR JUST BEGINNING) reports there are now four class actions against the alcohol industry based on their marketing to minors. A fifth was recently dismissed from the L.A. Superior Court.

George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, tells the ABA Journal that, "The alcoholic beverage industry does everything that the tobacco company used to do in terms of hooking young drinkers, wrapping marketing in youth-oriented culture and music and humor. They make very halfhearted efforts to reduce youth access to alcohol."

I think the Budweiser frogs are second-cousins to Joe Camel. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the neo-prohibitionism that the likes of MADD (notwithstanding the good they do) and similar groups sometimes engage in. Like the next guy I enjoy beer now and then, and I love a good Oregon Pinot with a plate of salmon. Responsible marketing, and consumption, is one thing, but this industry has been selling a social ill to our children. I suspect that we will see evidence that the industry intentionally marketed to minors in the same way the tobacco companies did.