State Attorneys General As Nanny 911

They're at it again. Twenty-nine state attorneys general are chasing after beer companies.  No newsflash, one of them is Rhode Island AG Patrick Lynch.

For what alleged misdeed are the state AGs targeting the beer industry?  They're contending that, reports AD AGE's Jeremy Mulliman, companies like Anheuser Busch and Miller Brewing are marketing energy drinks with alcohol content in misleading ways so that they attract teens.  They reason that because energy drinks are so popular with all ages the beer companies intentionally are marketing their alcoholic products like these energy drinks, thus pulling in young people. 

This assumes, of course, that teens can't differentiate a regular energy drink from one laced with alcohol and that they will somehow pull off purchasing them.  Sounds like the 29 state AGs are assuming the role of national nanny as they did with tobacco.  Expect that number of concerned participants to grow.

Where this Nanny 911 alert stands is at the stage of a letter dated August 20th to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.  The state AGs request the Bureau to "review the entire category of alcoholic energy drinks in a systematic way to discover and act upon misleading claims."

Mulliman notes that the letter doesn't include "any examples of these marketers advertising in youth-oriented media or websites but rather focused on claims that the AGs said would appeal to youth."  Sounds recklessly vague to me.  Where's the proof of bad intentions and perverted actions?  Incidentally, in his news release, reports THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL's Michael P. McKinney, Lynch said, "Beverage companies are unconscionably and deliberately targeting young drinkers in touting their claims about the stimulating properties of alcoholic energy drinks."

Fortunately, the targeted companies are pushing back. Let's hope they push back in ways that put a stop to these inappropriate AG crusades.