<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>522852-00590</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>5/2/2006 7:00:50 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Chancey, Cassandra</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>TN</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, As a citizen and taxpayer, I support the FTC's intention to undertake a new report reviewing alcohol industry advertising practices and compliance with voluntary advertising codes. I am a citizen, a mother and a former probation officer. My husband and I were both tee-totalers while my son was growing up, and still are. There was never any alcohol in our home, no example of drinking alcohol was ever seen by my son - except on televeision. My son was totally into sports; he played football, basketball, baseball, ran track, was a great swimmer. He was also into watching every football and basketball game on television as well as wrestling and other sports. ALWAYS there are beer commericals connected with these programs. Local stores began selling my son beer when he was 16 years old. He quit sports although he at one time had a bright future for a college scholarship. He quit everything - except drinking. He is now 32 years old and an alcoholic. His favorite sport now? Drinking beer. Oh - and he especially likes to drink when he is watching sports WITH ALL OF THE BEER COMMRERCIALS. I hold the FTC as well as the beer and liquor companies responsible. You tell our children not to take drugs, you send DARE programs into our schools to teach them to say no - AND ALCOHOL IS PROBABLY THE MOST DANGEROUS LONG-TERM AND MOST EASILY ACCESSIBLE DRUG in this country - as well as the one MOST OVERLOOKED and winked at; You allow companies to advertise beer and liquor on programs which you KNOW young people are watching. Alcohol destroyed my father and I am watching it destroy my son. As a former probation officer, I saw many, many young people 18, 19, 20, who ALREADY had serious alcohol problems and had already been drinking for several years. I saw people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, for whom alcohol was a way of life - and the only way of life they knew! 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>