<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>522852-00899</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>5/3/2006 11:29:45 AM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Davis, Chloe</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>VA</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Proposed Information Requests to Manufacturers of Alcoholic Beverages</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>PO64505</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras Dear Chairman Platt Majoras, As a citizen and taxpayer, I support the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) intention to issue a new report reviewing alcohol industry advertising practices and compliance with voluntary advertising codes. I have a 9 month old son, and the last thing I want is for him to grow up with the unfair burden of alcohol adds thrown his direction. I urge the FTC to issue a strong and detailed report. The federal government does not do nearly enough to monitor alcohol industry marketing. Self-regulation by the alcoholic beverage industry is clearly insufficient, given the well-documented, repeated failures of alcohol manufacturers to adhere to voluntary guidelines. Underage drinking results in death and serious injury to thousands of young people every year. In violation of its own standards, the alcohol industry flagrantly conducts slick marketing campaigns, crafted with obvious youth appeal, in media outlets and sports venues that have a large underage audience. Because of the massive public health costs of underage drinking and the alcohol industry's utter failure to police itself, I urge the FTC to strengthen its reporting process in the following ways: 1. Report on alcohol industry advertising practices once a year, as the FTC now does with tobacco advertising. An annual report on alcohol advertising compliance would greatly increase accountability of alcohol marketers. 2. Collect detailed data, including product brands popular with youth, target-audience ethnicity, sports-related marketing, and magazine and television advertising where youth audience rates exceed 15 percent. 3. Collect information on "responsibility" and "prevention" advertising by alcoholic-beverage companies, as well as advertising touting charitable activities of alcoholic-beverage producers or promoting the "health benefits" of alcoholic beverages. 4. Compare voluntary advertising compliance among various segments of the alcoholic-beverage industry, and make recommendations for both strengthening and enforcing advertising standards. Thank you for considering my views. I hope to see the FTC play a continued and increasingly active role in protecting our youth from irresponsible and dangerous alcohol marketing. </body> </HTML>