CAMY Says Alcohol Company Websites Attract Minors March 12, 2004
News Summary
A study of alcohol-company websites finds a high number of visits from underage youth, attracted to such features as video games, music, e-mail gadgets, and icons, the Associated Press reported March 9.Researchers at the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University estimate that nearly 700,000 minors visited alcohol-company websites from July through December.
"These alcohol websites are a virtual cyber-playground with no adult supervision," said Jim O'Hara, director of the center. "If a liquor store were this ineffective in policing underage visits, the community would be up in arms."
Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. dismissed the study, calling it a publicity stunt to raise funds. He said the Federal Trade Commission has "reviewed our ads and said they were directed to adults, that our Web content is directed to adults, and that 99.9 percent of them had age verification in place, in addition to having responsible-drinking messages throughout."
But O'Hara said the study monitored actual Internet usage through the audience-measuring service comScore Media Metrix. It found that 13 percent of all visitors to 55 alcohol company websites were minors. Bacardi's site had 59 percent of underage visitors, while Anheuser-Bush's Budweiser and BudLight sites received more than 90,000 underage visits during the six-month study period.
O'Hara added that parental controls on computers were not sufficient to block entry to the sites. Furthermore, the age-verification features on the websites were unable to truly verify the visitor's age.
O'Hara said the websites violate the industry's marketing advertising codes by offering youth-oriented activities, such as downloadable music and video games.
"There are a lot of features that appear to be in conflict with the industry's own marketing and advertising codes, where they shouldn't be using toys and games," O'Hara said.
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