Some like it Not

Sectors of the US drinks industry are staging a fight back against those they believe would reintroduce Prohibition through the back door. Jon Rees reports

LOOKING BACK, it is generally regarded as having cemented the place of the Mafia in US society and made a whole generation regard the law as an ass, so is there really a suggestion that Prohibition could make a come back?

Anyone who has seen "Some Like it Hot" knows just what effect the Taft Act, banning the sale or production of alcohol, had on the US in the Twenties.  It turned decent, law-abiding musicians into transvestites, that’s what it did; which is too high a price to pay simply to make the funniest film ever.

When George Raft, alias Spats Columbo, walked into the funeral parlour in Chicago, along with a bunch of gorillas in dinner jackets – "These are my lawyers, all Harvard men" – while Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis played in the band, he entered a "speakeasy" which in reality would have been full of perfectly respectable, usually law-abiding people who were quite prepared to break the law because it was clearly ridiculous.

They just fancied a drink.  We all know what happened next: murder, mayhem, Sweet Sue and her Syncopations ("All my girls are virtuosos and I intend to keep it that way") and, of course, Marilyn Monroe.

Actually, maybe Prohibition wasn’t that bad, after all.  Now, though, there is some suggestion in the US that perhaps not drinking alcohol at all is a good idea.  At least, that is how some in the American Beverage Licensees (ABL) and the American Beverage Institute (ABI) see it.

They are concerned lest the powerful and apparently very successful campaigns from various pressure groups to encourage Americans to stop drinking and driving altogether may be just the thin end of the wedge.  What they think those advertising campaigns are really about is making drinking entirely socially unacceptable.

Advertising to persuade people to stop drink driving, and indeed to drink more responsibly generally, have proved pretty successful in the US.

Certainly, advertising sponsored by groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), founded by parents who had lost children in drink driving accidents, as well as state and federal advertising on the same theme, appears to be shifting public opinion towards zero tolerance for drivers who have had anything at all to drink.

National surveys, conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by Gallup, show that strong agreement with zero tolerance rose to 48% in 2001 from 43% 10 years earlier.

There is an element of "creeping" prohibition, according to drinks retailers at least, even in the slogans used in the advertising campaigns from the anti-drink drive lobby.  These have changed from "Don’t Drive Drunk" in the early days to more recent zero tolerance messages like "None for the Road" and "You Drink and Drive, You Lose".

"These overly conservative messages tell responsible Americans that they’re wrong in going out and having a glass of beer, a glass of wine or a cocktail at dinner, or at a sports venue, and driving home," Paul Avery, president of the Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain as well as the ABI, told the New York Times.

Avery claims to admire groups like MADD as well as other advocacy groups and, indeed, the efforts by the state and federal authorities to curb irresponsible drinking. But he reckons their real target is alcohol itself. So, in a rather brave move, Avery and his members are fighting back. "We’re just trying to protect ourselves," he said.

The result is a commercial which aims to make out-of-home drinking not just acceptable, but desirable, too.  There are no images of people sloshed out of their minds, with a bottle of whisky in one hand and a steering wheel in the other.  The phrase "One for the road" does not feature, nor does anyone drive away from a bar with wheels spinning, laughing gaily with a six-pack on their lap.

Instead, the commercial is the height of sobriety, contenting itself with making toasts to adults seen clinking glasses in restaurants and bars. "Here’s to places where they remember your name," the voice-over says in apparent reference to the theme tune of the famous sitcom "Cheers".

 "Here’s to the millions of Americans who, every day of the week, enjoy an evening out with close friends and adult beverages."  Not sure about that reference to "adult beverages". Not only does it hardly trip off the tongue but it also makes it sound slightly seedy, as if they were some kind of X-rated brew.

 It is, apparently, intended to make it clear that grown-up people drink grown-up drinks rather than alcopops.  The commercial closes with the line "Drink responsibly, drive responsibly" over a busy road at night.

The ABI reckons about 10 million people saw it on CNN and Fox News during its initial run.  The ad is part of a larger campaign whereby two dozen restaurant chains display "Drink responsibly, drive responsibly" logos or print it on their menus. Other liquor suppliers also use it in their ads or on their websites.

The agency which created the campaign on behalf of the ABI and ABL is Berman and Company in Washington. Rick Berman, a partner in the agency, feels strongly that his campaign serves a legitimate purpose.

 "People are finding different ways to get this message out, which I’m hoping will crowd out this ‘don’t drink and drive’ message which is not legally, socially or scientifically accurate," he told the New York Times.

"Otherwise, there are these money-driven agenda groups that will literally change the culture in this country without there being any legitimate reason for having done so."

Meanwhile, executives at MADD, which is often accused by the alcohol industry of going too far, said its campaigns had nothing to do with prohibiting responsible drinking. "These are scare tactics, actually by the alcohol industry," said Wendy Hamilton, president of MADD.

 "We never tell anyone over 21 not to drink alcohol.  " It does recommend designating a sober driver in a group, however. 

It’s a way off prohibition, even if some in the drinks industry don’t see it like that; but you can never be too careful.