The Center for Science in the Public Interest isn't being very scientific. Does it matter what the marketing is and what the liquor store shelves look like? The majority of teens don't get their alcohol in liquor stores.

I had underage interns bugging me to buy them booze (and being very disappointed to learn I was only 20 myself), they wanted wine (cheap, boxed) and liquor, and they wanted it because they would be very drunk very quickly. That was a pretty dull summer, watching them get plotzed every night...

Also, the teens are probably just looking to get drunk, hence why they hit the hard stuff rather than the beer.

I always preferred G&T's, they pair nicely with a tweed jacket. Cheers, mates!

T

So it goes.

i don't think it's wise to totally dispel the impact of marketing, though. i doubt the alluring colors of hypnotiq & the like have a very large impact, but spend a few hours in front of prime time tv & you're bound to see a load of hip advertising from liquor manufacturers. they all feature young, attractive kids having loads of fun b/c of the captain, smirnoff, stoli - as i write this, i'm watching the fifth tangueray rangpur commercial i've seen tonite.

drinking is cool. no legislation is going to change that.

Teen drinking is out of control in these boring rural areas because there is nothing else to do.

Sounds like good teenager logic to me.

Also: beer is fattening. The college girl who's skinny with a mom pouch hanging over her jeans is one dumb bunny who should switch to shots.

I think rather than raising the taxes (that will do nothing, these kids will get their hooch at any price.) the government needs to go after the merchants that aren't properly checking ID. And even so much as going after parents for not exercising due-dilligence in keeping their kids out of the liquor cabinet. (I'd give up drinking alltogether before I'd EVER let a child of mine drink underage).

All through highschool, discussions on Monday were about how smashed everyone got over the weekend. It got old and frankly I STILL don't understand why everyone thinks its so awesome to drink so much alcohol you can't remember having any fun.

And to you kids who drink to get drunk...I can't help but pity you if you feel that you have to poison yourselves to enjoy life. I drink too, but life's enjoyable enough without having to pump myself full of C2H5OH.

As for kids, yes, of course they're drinking to get drunk. They want the most alcohol for the least amount of money. Plus, beer is an acquired taste and most kids would rather not bother. It's more expensive to get a six pack than a bottle of 40 proof rotgut. Plus, they feel more sophisticated to mix above mentioned appletinis and such.

I am a substance abuse therapist and deal with adolescents all the time. The colors don't have much to do with their decisions, it is the taste and what actually works. There are plenty of 13 year old females who only drink wine because thats what their parents keep in their house.

Statistics like there are a joke because you are always going to get a flawed result due to lack of honestly. Spend an hour in one of my caseload groups and you will hear some insane facts about adolescent drinking.

Or, alternatively, they could remove this magical drinking age number (Something suddenly happens to you when you turn 21? orly?), let the parents do their job (i.e. PARENT!), and only bring to cops into it when others could get hurt (i.e. DUI, doing something else stupid while drunk)

When i was that age, (22 now, 'natch), i was more worried about what my parents would do if i got caught drunk than i was about the cops...

If i'm a teen, and drinking at a friend's house, no harm, no foul. But may your world screech to a halt if you get behind the wheel of a car.

Let the kids drink. They'll outgrow the drink-til-puke thing, like we all did.

Do ANY of these legislators remember being a teen? Or are they merely hypocrits? Oops, forgot: "the alcohol back in their day was much different than the alcohol kids drink today."

How old are you? You sound like a disgruntled old fart. You know you are an ADULT at 18? You are young enough to die for your country in war but not a full enough citizen to drink alcohol. BTW they reduced the age restriction during the Vietnam War because of this reasoning. Well Id be disgruntled too if I had liver spots on my hands.

BTW in the rest of the world - alcohol isnt as much of a big deal, not as overtaxed, and its younger drinkers are generally more responsible.

My friends partied with the Beast too, price is very important when you're a poor student. We'd always have a couple bottles of Jose Cuervo, Vadka or something else on hand, but it was always just a couple bottles, at best. As I said, price is everything.

Kids hate the taste of beer, they needed a study to spell out the obvious? Who are they kidding, this sounds more like an excuse to raise taxes. Everyone hates the taste of beer, at first. It's an aquired taste, but I guess these 'concerned' government officials weren't aware of that... yeah, right

I don't GET beer and wine, and apparently I'm not the only one. Wine, especially, has been an issue in my life, because all of my mother's very cosmopolitan friends insist they just COULDN'T turn down a glass of...whateverthehellwine they drink. One of her friends made me drink a glass of wine before my wedding. I managed to get away with only drinking a portion of it, but I still felt dull and horrible through the whole ceremony.

Between the ages of 14 and 17, I drank enough Milwaukees Best to fill a swimming pool. Amongst my group of friends, it was always Beast ... we'd have cases of that shit to drink. We never really drank liquor. We also never really needed to. My friends and I always had a private place to party and relax. None of us we're drinking at home. We didn't need to hide anything but the results of our drunkeness from our parents.

Oh, and we also smoked a lot of pot. Sometimes we did that instead of beer. Always far more fun and way less dangerous.

@AaronM: No, but their girlfriends are.

You'll never get any company that produces product meant for adults, to admit that they advertise their products to teens and tweens.

Kids turn 18 and 21 every day, and what do they looks forward to? Being able to buy cigarettes, and in this case, alcohol.

When these kids turn 21, companies want their products already to be in their heads, hopefully producing a life-long customer. Of course they deliberately make their drinks cool colors, with fancy bottles and crazy names - that's what attracts younger people.

Kids are the future customers of these companies.

@Galls: And if I don't feel like being enlightened in this lifetime, that's nobody's business but my own.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a prayer meeting scheduled with the Three Wise Men.

So far as reasons teens prefer liquor in general can definitely not be attributed to flavor or bottle. I know that when I drink, I want to get intoxicated with the greatest haste, and that if there are leftovers, they can safely be stored (and there always are). Flavor always takes a back seat to the alcohol content in deciding what to buy. Price has never really mattered to me, all I have to do is pay for my own gas and food with my paycheck, as with a lot of teens. So long as you have a job, you can afford just about anything. A side note: I once had a Smirnoff party pack in my trunk for a month before I got caught with it. So unless you live in an apartment with parents, hiding it from parents isn't a problem.

Too long; didn't read?
Teens are out to have a good time, preferably in a drunken stupor, and damn, are teens today impatient.

Having flavored booze probably doesn't help the underage drinking problem, but I wouldn't call the marketing and pretty bottles the reason kids drink or even a "conspiracy" of the companies creating the booze. Packaging is a good way to get your product noticed and placed in a shopping cart, but when you're not the one buying the booze or going into the store at all, then I can't imagine it matters much. "Hey, could you get that rum you got me last time? The bottle was totally cool."

Wine is fine,
But liquor is quicker.

Sure your definition of living a compelling life may be seeing how asinine you can be, but that does not exactly lend itself to a rewarding, long and enlightened life style.

Kids drink alcohol to get drunk, and drunk quick, and to spend as little alcohol as possible. There are reasons that most teens drink things like Wolfschmidts. I know, I was a member of that group, though thankfully we had a friend that was a box boy at a liquor store so we got lots of nice booze for free most of the time.

But watch as people mature, and really evolve drinking from getting drunk to drinking to enjoy the flavors as they consume the beverages. I've graduated from the young drink yourself stupid class, to a person that enjoys quality beers (no Bud, Coors, or Miller for this boy) and high quality bottles of wine.

It's taken ten years since I first started drinking, but a good night out to dinner for some fine dining and a very nice bottle of wine top just about any drink to get drunk experience I can think of.

As far as those fruity style drinks, they are definitely marketed to the younger crowd, and by younger I'm thinking mid-twenties. My wife is also a good target for their products, old enough to drink, but not a big drinker in general, so if she does drink something besides some nice wine with dinner, it's usually a Smirnoff Ice or some fruity mixed drink concoction.

To shorten my rambling:

Kids drink to get messed up as quickly as possible for as little as possible. Liquor tends to be the cheapest and easiest to acquire... hence teens drink more liquor. BUT... if only beer or wine is available, they will drink that because it will net them the same end result.

I agree with "Me", Consumer-X, and definitely I did the Sprite+vodka thing. I kept vodka in a Sprite bottle in the refridgerator because my mother was diabetic and I knew she'd never drink it and she'd never been much of a soda drinker before that anyway. Never got busted. And yes liquor definitely has the "1 tequila, 2 tequila, floor" advantage to drinking a 6 or 12 of beer if the goal is to get drunk, not just drinking for the sake of drinking.

I remember a friend of mine doubled over a balcony railing puking vodka at the ripe age of 18.

I imagine that this "legislation" is only designed to put more money in the government's pockets, and "Think of the Children" is a good enough excuse as any.

These people blow my mind.

Heh...ahhh high school years. Parties with jello shots and that special punch. Yeah, when I was a teen it was all about the price and how fast you could get drunk. As a teen most of the time you don't have a lot of money to buy cases and cases of beer, so you get that cheap gallon vodka or tequila and just add some fruit punch. Voila, instant party. Beer is just too expensive and doesn't have that kick.

But is this marketing to teens or just appealing to a market with changing tastes? I'd have to go with the latter

If anything I think the bright colors are flavors are in response to the fact that kids are MUCH more likely to drink the stuff for all the reasons described.

I know I for one did, and my friends did too. We where not stupid, liquor could be hidden better (sprite + vodka = one fun marching band trip) and could be made to taste sweet which teens like more than the much more refined taste beer and wine is IMHO. Both cant really be made to mix well to taste better (wine you COULD make into sangria but its still wine) and both need to be drank in a short amount of time before they go "bad"

Clever marketing has nothing to do with why teens drink hard liquor more than other types of alcohol. They drink hard liquor because:
A.They are new drinkers and are just developing a taste for alcohol.Hard liquor mixed with fruit punch is much more palatable.
B.It is easier to transport concealed from parents and police.
C.A little bit goes a long way.
D.It is harder for parents to miss a half pint of vodka taken from a bigger bottle in the family home by their teenage child. Parents are more likely to notice missing beers or bottles of wine from the family home.

I always drank hard alcohol when I was underage because:
- it could be opened and reopened unlike beer (good for storing an old bottle o' your parents' that they wouldn't miss) and wouldn't get old if there was a long lull between parties
- It didn't need to be refrigerated
- It is much easier to conceal (which is good for hiding it from both the authorities and other under-age kids who couldn't get their own. There was much less sharing that way...)

Sidenote: I started early and ended early, so don't judge me by my sneaky past!

Forget enjoying a drink, they drink just to get drunk.