Posted on 08/31/2002 9:32:47 AM PDT by GeneD
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:08:11 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Already under fire in the ''Sex for Sam'' controversy in which a couple was arrested on charges of lewd behavior in St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Boston Beer Co. agreed yesterday to temporarily pull a TV ad for its Sam Adams Light beer that a law-enforcement group says encourages underage drinking.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Maybe they were just hiding their beer so the cops wouldn't drink it. I haven't seen the ad so I don't know what was implied by having them hide their beer. Sounds like a lot of fuss about nothing. Dragging AMA and MADD into the fuss makes me all the more suspicious that these orgainzations are on a campaign for publicity.
While they may have deserved the black eye for not being more judicious in the type of media trash they sponsored--although I would seriously doubt that they had any advance notice of just how depraved that radio program was;--this instant item is actually funny.
So long as teenagers can vote, drive and defend America, making it illegal for them to drink beer will get no support from me. Indeed, of all those options, drinking is far from being the first that I would terminate. Voting is the one which requires by far the most mature and experienced judgment. Nor am I the kind of hypocrite, who will sanctimoniously pretend that I did not drink in College. Sure some teenagers do not use good sense, when they drink. But that is not just an attribute of their age. It has to do with their familiarity with the effects.
If there really are people who never drank alcoholic beverages before they were 21, I suspect that they occasionally made a fool of themselves, when they first got acquainted with the product.
The fact is that it is precisely because the more sanctimonious among us get so upset at the idea of teenage drinking, that it has so much appeal to the kids. In restricting drinking on the basis of an arbitrary age bar, we have reinforced its significance as part of a rite of passage into the adult world. If more parents simply offered their teenagers an occasional beer at home, there would probably actually be less teenaged drinking. In the Founding Fathers' day, that would have been considered perfectly normal.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Sam Adams had sponsored this 'contest' for the last three years. They knew exactly what the show and the contest were about. They just got 'caught' this time because of the outrage about St. Patricks.
I agree with you on your drinking age points. I don't really drink now (30) but did when I was younger. I had thought it insane that I was old enough to be in the Persian Gulf fighting desert storm (not much actual fighting) but NOT old enough to drink a beer. Luckily the Navy was more understanding and provided beer to all sailors under 21. Even in San Diego the Navy, until recently, had an 18 drinking age on base even though the off base age was 21. They did this to keep sailors (18-21) from running to T.J. so much and ending up in Mexican jails..
The complaint by The National Liquor Law Enforcement Association is BS.
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