<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>522852-01262</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>5/8/2006 10:49:54 AM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Kleinerman, Karen</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>CT</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, local Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking coordinator, and taxpayer, I support the FTC's intention to undertake a new report reviewing alcohol industry advertising. The alcohol industry fails to monitor itself properly regarding marketing practices; and ineffectual "Drink Responsibly" disclaimers and disingenuous offers of help for parents to "talk to their children about alcohol" are completely buried under the continuing avalanche of youth oriented alcohol ads and kid-venue alcohol marketing. Alcohol is a DRUG. There is NO NEED to advertise or market alcohol of any sort using cartoons, adorable dancing animals, alcohol masquerading as fizzy fruit drinks, teen-looking models engaging in adolescent -style hijinks, sexual suggestiveness, and ANYthing which makes alcohol look "cool" to children of any age. PERIOD. Responsible adults over the LEGAL drinking age of 21 do not need cartoons in order to make an alcohol purchase; but research shows that kids are highly influenced by those kinds of ads, even though they cannot legally purchase alcohol. The alcohol industry reads the research on underage drinking as closely--and probably more so--than human services professionals. They know exactly what their advertising dollars will bring them. Marketing to youth, who are especially prone to addiction to alcohol and whose young brains are at risk of actual physiological damage by the drug, is a practice that guarantees future customers. Young drinkers are four times more likely to become heavy drinkers as adults, than people who start drinking after age 21. Considering that underage drinking costs this country about $52 BILLION dollars each year, not to mention incalculable misery, any government agency that has any degree of oversight over the alcohol industry has the responsibility to use what tools it has to reduce the problem. You have before you a series of suggestions by the Center for Science in the Public Interest; and I concur with their suggestions: 1. Yearly reports on alcohol industry advertising practices 2. Collection of much more detailed data on youth-directed mareting and advertising . 3. Review of "public service" activities and responsible drinking disclaimers by the alcohol industry 4. Comparison of voluntary advertising compliance among various segments of the alcoholic-beverage industry Thank you for your attention. I hope to see the FTC play whatever role it is legally empowered to play in keeping young people from being assaulted by irresponsible and dangerous alcohol marketing. </body> </HTML>