Last week the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) adopted the latest in a long line of unreasonable positions against adult beverages. CSPI’s George Hacker took to the cable TV airwaves, arguing that a new class of alcoholic drinks, commonly known as “alcopops” or “malternatives,” are being marketed to underage drinkers on television. Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal has joined with CSPI, asking the feds to tighten regulations on these TV ads.

We’ve heard this song and dance before. CSPI made similar claims just last year, based on a “study” of teen drinking habits which USA Today said involved just two small focus groups and one telephone survey. This time around, CSPI didn’t even bother asking the under-21 crowd whether or not they drank “alcopop” products. Their survey only measured teens’ TV viewing habits after 9:00 PM. The liquor industry’s own policies won’t allow ads for these products on the air during earlier viewing hours.

The current vintage of CSPI’s anti-alcohol campaign is also different for another very important reason. Just last month, the Federal Trade Commission ruled unequivocally that these alcoholic beverages “aren’t being marketed to minors.” The FTC also “did not find that the products are placed with nonalcoholic beverages in retail outlets,” another long-time CSPI claim. Reading from this June decision on Crossfire last week, CNN’s Robert Novak told George Hacker that “the federal government says you haven’t got a leg to stand on.”

When asked point-blank at a news conference if CSPI’s long-term goals include a complete prohibition on TV alcohol ads, Hacker demurred, saying that “too many political, economic and legal hurdles” exist. But barely two months ago, CSPI’s Marla Schlaffer sent out an “action alert” to the organization’s 800,000 newsletter subscribers, urging them to put pressure on their members of Congress. The email was titled “Call for a Congressional Hearing on ALL Television Alcohol Advertising” [emphasis in the original]. The General Board of the United Methodist Church recently followed suit, urging its members to “help stop all television alcohol advertising.”

Typical of so-called public interest advocates, CSPI’s cultural alarm over “alcopops” ignored a crucial bit of information: teen alcohol use between August 2001 and June 2002 was the lowest in 15 years. The annual Pride Survey, considered the official White House measurement since 1998, called its most recent overall data “the best report on adolescent behaviors in over a decade.”