Fighting the good fight

Modern Brewery Age, March 16, 1992

The Wirthlin data also indicated that the licensed beverage industry, as a whole, was perceived as contributing to misuse. The licensed beverage industry was perceived as being socially irresponsible, according to the people polled. There was also a perception that the licensed beverage industry's product advertising was contributing to underage drinking. That is what people thought.

In fact, three out of five policy makers, according to the Wirthlin data, don't believe the licensed beverage industry is making a good faith effort to combat abuse of their products. There are people in the licensed beverage industry saying that this survey should never have been done. But all that the Wirthlin data does, in my opinion, is confirm pieces of primary and secondary research that have already been done by others.

In our case, this information was brought together for a very specific reason: To develop certain strategic imperatives, based on the positive findings of the Wirthlin data. And one of those positive findings is that 79 percent of the respondents, an overwhelming majority of the public and of policy makers, support the idea of a voluntary, self-regulating organization along the lines of the Century Council.

There were two other things that were pointed out by the Wirthlin survey that were useful for developing our strategic imperative. That drunk driving and that underage drinking problems are the two greatest areas of concern to the public, and to policy and decision makers. That's what the Wirthlin survey brought out.

MBA: Is the industry sticking its heads in the sand if it ignores the public perceptions that the Wirthlin study brought out?

JG: It seems to me, again with all respect, yes. I liken this situation to a doctor coming up to your or me, and examining us, and saying, |you've got cancer,' and you or I responding, |How dare you say a thing like that.' Rather than saying, |I do well how can we fix it?'

MBA: Turning to the council's recent activities, you have reported that the |Front Lines' campaign has shipped material to 170,000 retailers and wholesalers.

JG: Yes. We've shipped nearly one million items to over 150,000 outlets. Probably more at this point, because these are stats from a couple of weeks ago. That's three times our projections. We're having a great deal of positive receptivity. As you know, we provide order forms, and when people order these, we'll provide all these materials free of charge. We would like to continue to do that, because the retailers have indicated that they are very effective.

MBA: Have you seen any instances of the major brewers discouraging their wholesalers from participating in the program?

JG: You're asking me a question like a prosecutor. You know the answer. Of course we have, and I lament that. It strikes me that some people believe we are superfluous, that we are unneeded. To use the cancer analogy again, that is like saying that if one medical center is doing research on cancer then no others are needed.