Youth Take On the Alcohol Beverage Industry
by Lisa Frederiksen
Contrary to a common belief that “all kids drink” – at least at some point in their teens – Dover, New Hampshire’s Youth to Youth program took matters into their own hands. According to its website, Youth to Youth is “a comprehensive, peer-based youth empowerment program. Students in grades 6-12 are organized and aggressively participate as part of ‘the solution’ to the drug and violence problem.” What drew my attention to their efforts was fosters.com’s August 21, 2008, article “Sticker Shock on the Beer Shelves.” The article describes action Dover Youth to Youth teams took to get parents’ attention about how that six-pack in the fridge might be contributing to underage drinking.
With Dover store-owner’s permission, teams visited stores and put stickers on Anheuser-Busch products that read: “Your kid’s next drink might be right next to the milk. Don’t let your home be a place of temptation. Lock it, dump it, track it or give it away.” Gutsy to say the least and what drew further attention to the youth’s cause was the actions taken by representatives of the New Hampshire Distributors, Inc. (but I’ll leave those details for you to read in the article.)
To the New Hampshire Distributors, Inc.’s credit, representatives from both groups met to discuss the matter, and the Distributors’ president and CEO, Christopher Brown, was quoted as saying, “We agree that underage drinking is dangerous and irresponsible and we think that together we can create a powerful image.”
If Anheuser Busch, Inc.’s recent ad in Time magazine’s August 25, 2008 issue, [click here for other examples of their Prevent. Don't Provide ad campaign] this just might be possible. What a powerful message that would be!
