<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>522852-00029</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>5/2/2006 9:18:37 AM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Macmaster, David</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>WI</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Proposed Information Requests to Manufacturers of Alcoholic Beverages</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>PO64505</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras Federal Trade Commission - Office of the Secretary Room H-135 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20580 Dear Chairman Majoras, I am joining a campaign to direct the FTC to adopt a more assertive policy regarding the marketing practices of the alcohol and tobacco industries in this country. These two industries appear to have unlimited amounts of marketing money to spend influencing our people to have a postive reaction to their products through seductive and powerful motivational messages. These messages do not offer balance of information to the consumer. They do not present the risks and downside to the use of their products in any compelling way. Meanwhile our government that is charged with the responsibility for protecting us from harmful products is only able to offer a very limited amount of public health information or counter marketing by comparison. It is time to demand a more powerful and ongoing public information campagn. We also need to reign in the marketing practices of the alcohol and tobacco companies for the good of us all. A better informed public is more likely to make wiser choices regarding alcohol, tobacco and drugs when we have the counter-marketing these products deserve. I support the FTC's intention to undertake a new report reviewing alcohol industry advertising practices and compliance with voluntary advertising codes. I urge the FTC to issue a stronger and more detailed report than those released in 1999 and 2003. The federal government does not do nearly enough to monitor alcohol industry marketing. Self-regulation by the industry is clearly insufficient, given the well-documented, repeated failures of alcohol manufacturers to adhere to voluntary guidelines. Underage drinking results in death and serious injury to thousands of young people every year. In flagrant violation of its own standards, the alcohol industry routinely conducts slick marketing campaigns, designed for obvious youth appeal, in media outlets and sports venues with a large underage audience. Because of the massive public health consequences of underage drinking and the alcohol industry's utter failure to police itself, I urge the FTC to strengthen its reporting process in the following ways: 1. Report on alcohol industry advertising practices once a year, as the FTC now does with tobacco advertising. Although the previous ad hoc reports have been useful, an annual report on alcohol advertising compliance would greatly increase accountability of alcohol marketers. 2. Collect much more detailed data, including product brands popular with youth, target-audience ethnicity, sports-related marketing, and magazine and television advertising where youth audience rates exceed 15 percent. 3. Collect information on "responsibility" and "prevention" advertising by alcoholic-beverage companies, as well as advertising touting charitable activities of alcoholic-beverage producers or promoting the "health benefits" of alcoholic beverages. 4. Compare voluntary advertising compliance among various segments of the alcoholic-beverage industry, and make recommendations for both strengthening and enforcing advertising standards. Thank you for considering my views. I hope to see the FTC play a continued and increasingly active role in protecting our youth from irresponsible and dangerous alcohol marketing. </body> </HTML>