and to lose more than just money. The movie Back to the Future II, which was marketed primarily towards an adolescent audience, included ads for Miller beer (“Selling” 518). Wes Craven’s horror mega-hit, Scream, whose target audiences were teens and young adults, contained scenes of high school-aged children drinking to the point of intoxication at a house party. Other films like the current hit Antz and the retro-hit Can’t Buy Me Love both contained scenes of drinking to relieve life stresses such as death and lost relationships. Movie industry officials say that their ads “are not aimed at children, and do not cause them to drink.” These officials also argue that their ads are “protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech” (Kong 41). Nonetheless, research shows that alcohol ads, intentionally or not, may be having a wide influence on youngsters because of the images they use (Kong 41). Jean Kilbourne, an advertising critic, states, “If you want to know what appeals to children, look at ads that are aimed deliberately at children. What do they use? They use cartoon characters. They use animals.” (Kong 41). To further strengthen this argument just look at the statistics; the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a recent survey of five-hundred eleven and twelve-year-olds. Eighty-eight percent correctly identified “Spuds Mackenzie” –dubbed the “original party animal” in ads for Bud Light beer (Kong 41). We must understand that the media is not just influencing our children, but providing them with false images of what alcohol actually does to their bodies. Former Surgeon General, Antonia C. Novello, shares her view on the industry’s ads: “alcohol beverage ads say: ‘Drink me and you will be carefree. Drink me and you will be cool. Drink me and you will have fun! Drink me, and there wil...
