Intro Bus
Critical thinking exercise 4-2
Ethical Dilemmas
5. You are the vice president of a beer company in a state that sets the legal drinking age at 21. Your boss asks you to organize a lobbying effort to have the drinking age reduced to 18. What would you do?
A. I would do research and report my findings to my boss.
Although it might seem like a good idea to do so -higher sales, and therefore higher revenue and profit- lowering the drinking age would be a losing battle.
States can lower the drinking age back down to 18 or 19 but the amount of federal highway funds they'd lose (about 10%) makes it too expensive for them to do it.
Many politicians don't want to risk getting involved. Why change something that appears to be working. Young people might like a beer at 18 but young people don't vote.
77% of Americans are opposed to lowering the drinking age to 18 according to a 2007 Gallop poll.
Research shows that the law saves lives. It is one of the most researched public health laws on the books. When the law was raised to 21, alcohol-related deaths for young people decreased; when it was lowered, deaths increased.
Scientific research about brain development and function, traffic accident records and population death rates show clearly that 18-21 year-olds handle alcohol poorly.
The idea is strongly opposed by social and religious conservatives, parts of hospitality and retail industry concerned about liability, groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Support 21 Coalition. These groups have money and clout with political institutions.
It costs American taxpayers nearly $61.9 billion annually, according to the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. That includes medical costs, work loss and lost quality of life.
If an industry leader like Anheuser-Busch were to try and start an ad campaign to lower the drinking age, in addition to teaching teens safe drinking habits and the consequences of binge drinking, they would immediately be demonized for trying to shove alcohol down the throats of teenagers. People would think they acted only out of corporate greed, looking for higher profits at the expense of our nation's youth's health and safety.
In the long run, launching a joint ad/ lobbying campaign to lower the drinking age would likely have an adverse effect on sales and revenue as well as a PR nightmare.
References
Age 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age. (2009). Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov
Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain. (2004). Retrieved from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Dean-Mooney, L. (2008 ). Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/09/08/a-lower-age-would-be-unsafe
Effects of Minimum Drinking Age Laws: Review and Analyses of the Literature from 1960 to 2000. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/SupportingResearch/Journal/wagenaar.aspx
Griggs, B. (2014). Should the U.S. lower its drinking age? Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/us/legal-drinking-age/index.html
Has the alcohol lobby ever tried to lower the drinking age to 18? If not, why? (2012). Retrieved from http://www.quora.com/Has-the-alcohol-lobby-ever-tried-to-lower-the-drinking-age-to-18-If-not-why
Keen, J. (2008). States weigh lowering drinking age. Retrieved from Usatoday.com: http://drinkingage.procon.org
Most Americans Oppose Lowering Legal Drinking Age to 18 Nationwide. (2007). Retrieved from www.gallup.com
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). (n.d.). Retrieved from www.madd.org
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism . (2002).
New Support 21 Coalition Formed to Support the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Law. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.cadca.org/resources/detail/new-support-21-coalition-formed-support-minimum-legal-drinking-age-law
Smith, N. (2011). Argument in Favor of Maintaining the Legal Drinking Age. Retrieved from http://www.articlemyriad.com/argument-maintaining-legal-drinking-age
The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. (2007). Retrieved from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underagedrinking/calltoaction.pdf www.chooseresponsibility.org. (n.d.). wwww.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov. (2009).
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