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Alcohol, tobacco makers accused of targeting youth on the Web

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March 6, 1997
Web posted at: 11:52 p.m. EST (0452 GMT)

(CNN) -- The Internet site says, "Welcome to The Pad, the official home of the Budweiser Frogs."

The cunning frogs -- like Budbrew J. (Bud) Budfrog -- are sure to catch a youngster's eye. They have personality and education -- and, Oh, yes -- they sell beer.

A coalition of media watchdog groups wants to ban youth-oriented ads for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products from the Internet.

In a report issued Thursday, the coalition says companies are capitalizing on the Internet's popularity and flashy graphics to promote products in cyberspace in ways that appeal to underage youth.

The study says alcoholic beverage companies, in particular, have moved to establish sites on the World Wide Web, the multimedia portion of the Internet.

It says more than 35 major brands are represented, including Moet & Chandon champagne, Smirnoff's vodka, Dewars scotch whiskey, Samuel Adams beer and Captain Morgan rum.

Moet

The Center for Media Education, a children's advocacy group, has called on Congress, federal regulators and health officials to investigate the promotions, saying some may be illegal.

Industry denies any wrongdoing

"Alcohol marketers are stalking our children. They hunt and ambush kids on TV, on radio, on the billboards they pass walking to and from school. Now, they've begun snaring youths on Web sites, too," complains George Hacker from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Industry officials deny they are targeting youth.

"Just because a young person may get into a site, ignore the fact it's for people 21 and older, and then go around in the site, does not mean ... they are more likely to drink beer," contends Jeff Becker from the Beer Institute.

"There's nothing on the Budweiser Web site that a family wouldn't see on an Anheuser-Busch brewery tour," adds Jack Dougherty, spokesman for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., which produces Budweiser beer.

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He said the company's Web site targets beer drinkers age 21 and older.

The nonprofit Center for Media Education estimates that nearly 5 million people up to age 17 clicked on to the World Wide Web last year.

There, they might be drawn to rock music selections, video games like one featuring the Cuervo Gold Roadhog, cute jingles like the one from Captain Morgan Rum and, possibly, the products themselves -- even though they legally are off-limits.

Tobacco companies sell online

Having been booted off television and radio by the Cigarette Act, tobacco companies are tapping the potential of the Internet through sites that promote smoking -- although shun specific brands.

"If the tobacco industry moves on to the Internet to advertise, then we will ask the Department of Justice to investigate and enforce the Cigarette Act," says Jeff Chester from the Center for Media Education.

The 1971 law bars cigarette ads on TV and radio and, according to the Center for Media Education, is applicable to the Internet.

That stance angers determined smokers.

"Until the prohibitionists succeed in gutting the First Amendment, the National Smokers Alliance will continue to communicate through the Internet," one group member said.

Correspondent Louise Schiavone and Reuters contributed to this report.

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