Free the Bowl Winners!

The winners of this year's Free the Bowl Contest have been announced!

In response to an avalanche of alcohol ads that appear during the Superbowl, the Marin Institute sponsored a contest in which youth produced ads promoting a "free the bowl from alcohol advertising" message.

This contest is timely: the 2009 Superbowl advertising lineup included beer ads that featured talking horses, a circus and clowns, summer parties, and slapstick comedy. These alcohol advertisements were intermingled with ads for PG-rated movies, theme parks, sugared breakfast cereal, and soft drinks.

The three winners' ads are below:

First prize winner Jeremiah Golden of New Hampshire, video:


The submission from second prize winner Jonathan Reed of California:


And from third prize winner Eric Shaughnessy, from Maryland:

“Free the Bowl” anti-beer ad contest for youth

The Marin Institute is offering prizes (including a MacBook and iPods) for youth age 13-20 who create ads for their Free the Bowl contest:

"Year after year, Anheuser-Busch and the National Football League hide behind weak, ineffectual Beer Institute self-regulatory guidelines to justify exposing youth to exploitive alcohol ads," said Michael Scippa, advocacy director at the Marin Institute. "Big Alcohol turns a deaf ear to our protests, so we want them to listen to compelling messages from young people who resent being targeted as new customers."

Anheuser-Busch is expected to spend up to $19 million on ads during the 2009 Super Bowl.

Deadline for contest entries is Jan. 25. The winner will be announced on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1. Ads created for the contest will be posted to YouTube. For more details, see www.freethebowl.com.(via Join Together)

According to the Marin Institute, 30 million youth viewed advertising during the 2008 Superbowl--more ads for beer than anything else. Research shows that the more alcohol advertising teens see the more likely they are to drink, and drink to excess. This contest will give beer companies the message that this exploitation of youth must stop.

MillerCoors puts Sparks Red on Hold

Last week, after being sued by the Center for Science in the Pubic Interst and receiving a letter of complaint by over 25 Attorney's General, including Maine's own AG Steven Rowe, MillerCoors bowed to pressure and put their plans to launch their new Sparks Red on hold.

These highly caffeinated alcoholic energy drinks mask the effects of intoxication, thus leading consumers to believe they are capable of driving or other tasks that are risky while intoxicated. In addition, since the effects are less noticeable, consumers are likely to drink more. As if this were not enough of a danger, these beverages are marketed towards youth. Sparks Red, at 8% alcohol, contains twice the alcohol as typical beer.

We applaud MillerCoors for postponing the introduction of this product, however, postponing is not enough. We urge MillerCoors to follow Anheuser Busch's lead in pulling this dangerously irresponsible beverage line off the market altogether. In June of this year, after an investigation by Maine's AG, and other states, concluded A-B's engergy drinks were being marketed illegally to young people.

For more information about alcoholic energy drinks, why they are a problem, and what we can do to stop them, visit:
http://www.marininstitute.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=28