The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the brewers are clearly violating California law by promoting and facilitating underage drinking and with reckless disregard for human life and the well-being of the public.

This is the first broad-based consumer action filed under California’s unfair competition and public nuisance laws and seeks to stop what the complaint claims is the deliberate marketing of alcohol to children and underage youth.

“Anheuser-Busch and Miller are inflating their profits at the expense of public safety and health,” said Steve Berman, attorney for the plaintiffs. “In effect, we allege and intend to prove, that these manufacturers are luring underage drinkers into potentially life-threatening addictions before they have the maturity necessary to make an informed decision whether to consume alcohol.”

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, alcohol is the leading drug of abuse by teenagers in the United States. This abuse takes a heavy toll on the state of California, with more than 100 underage California drivers dying and thousands more injured in alcohol-involved vehicle crashes every year. A 1999 household survey by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) found that approximately 32 percent of all California 11th-graders are “excessive alcohol users.”

Plaintiffs Lynne and Reed Goodwin lost their 20-year-old daughter, Casey Goodwin, when an underage drunk driver crashed into her.

“Miller Brewing and Anheuser-Busch are getting away with grooming children to be customers before they are of legal drinking age,” said Lynne Goodwin. “In my view based on what I have read they are pushing gateway drugs with lethal consequences.”

Both manufacturers produce flavored alcoholic beverages known as “alcopops,” such as Anheuser-Busch’s Doc Otis’ Hard Lemon Malt Beverage™ and Miller’s Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola™ that closely resemble soda pop with sweet flavors, bright colors and youthful packaging.

The suit asks the court to compel Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing to immediately cease marketing to children. In addition, it requests that the defendants account for profits gained through their illegal activity and pay appropriate restitution.

In 2002, Morgan Stanley analysts recognized the alcopop category as the fastest-growing segment in the alcohol industry with a 26 percent growth in 2001 and expected growth of 108 percent in 2002.

According to the complaint, the brewers capitalize on the confusion between alcopops and soft drinks, using the similarity to attract new, underage customers without affecting the sales of other products.

Underage drinkers account for approximately $22.5 billion in annual revenue to the alcohol industry. With 70 percent of total market share, Anheuser-Busch and Miller earn approximately $15.75 billion from underage consumption and, the complaint alleges, from marketing strategies designed to continue tapping into this profitable market by sponsoring advertisements with particular appeal to underage drinkers.

According to the suit, Anheuser-Busch spent $190,000 on television advertisements in 2001 for Budweiser and Bud Light on television shows where the youth audience exceeded 50 percent of the viewer ship, counter to clear alcohol industry self-regulatory guidelines. Miller sponsors youth-frequented programming, such as the CBS reality show “Big Brother 3” and produces advertising blatantly appealing to an underage audience, the suit contends.

For example, a controversial Miller Lite commercial features a young man standing in front of a large family home wearing an electric dog collar, who jumps through the electric barrier at the edge of the lawn thus being zapped by the collar, while being egged on by his friend.

The suit also states that the defendants advertise in magazines with teenage readership as high as 41 percent, and those advertisements have sexual and sophomoric overtones that are appealing to teenagers. California law prohibits the use of advertisements that are intended to encourage underage consumption and the complaint alleges that the companies have violated this law.

Berman points to a 2002 study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest finding that teens have extremely high brand recognition and unaided product recall for alcoholic beverages, demonstrating how much they learn from commercials.

The complaint alleges that Anheuser-Busch’s use of talking lizards, talking frogs and Spuds MacKenzie is in direct violation of its industry’s self-regulatory code that prohibits advertising and marketing materials using symbols, language, characters and other tools intended to appeal primarily to persons below legal purchase age. Both Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing’s direct and indirect appeals to minors run counter to California law forbidding advertisements that encourage the underage consumption of alcohol.

A Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) study found that children aged 9 to 11 were more familiar with Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser television frogs than with Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, Smokey the Bear or the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and as familiar with the frogs as they were with Bugs Bunny.

“Our children deserve the protection guaranteed by our current laws, laws now disregarded by Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing,” Berman said. “It’s time to end the relentless barrage of propaganda pressuring young people to engage in reckless and illegal behavior.”

In addition to being a representative action, the suit was also filed as a class action. Miller Brewing is 100 percent owned by SABMiller plc.

Copy of the California Law Suit   Facts on Youth and Alcohol Marketing
 

• Both the environment and genetics play a role in a person’s risk for alcoholism.
• Prior research has shown that genetics significantly influence a person’s response to alcohol.
• New research has identified three chromosomal regions in the human genome that appear to hold genes that affect a person’s low level of response to alcohol.
• Younger people are both drinking and developing alcohol problems at an earlier age
• People who develop alcoholism early in life have greater social and legal problems
• Women seem to be ‘catching up’ to men in terms of problem drinking
• Both family history and social changes play a role in who becomes alcohol dependent