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Congress has been spurred to action by explosive grass-roots campaigns. Consumer activists seem ready to pounce on almost any "target marketing" by tobacco and liquor manufacturers, a reference to advertising that is tailored to appeal to particular groups. Earlier this year, RJR Nabisco canceled plans for two new cigarette brands -- Uptown, aimed at blacks, and Dakota, which targeted uneducated young women -- in the face of heated opposition from consumer-advocacy groups.
The RJR skirmishes galvanized inner-city outrage toward target marketing. In New York City the Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church has led whitewashing expeditions through the streets of Harlem to cover up billboards promoting such products. In Chicago a mysterious crusader who calls himself Mandrake has been painting over similar billboards in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Several billboard companies have responded by voluntarily limiting the placement of certain ads. Since January the Patrick Media Group of Scranton, Pa., has eliminated its ads for cigarettes and liquor near schools and churches in 15 major cities.
The alcohol-fueled rites of spring break are sparking fresh criticism of % aggressive college marketing by brewers. The beer companies insist that they target only students who are legally old enough to drink. But because the legal drinking age is 21 in all 50 states, many students fall under the limit. Brewers often engage in promotions that fail to distinguish among students of different ages. Miller Brewing, for example, sponsors Friday afternoon beer bashes for 2,000 students at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Until local high schools complained that their students were tanking up at the free pours, university officials made little effort to screen participants.
To deflect criticism and forestall restrictive new laws, some brewers are beginning to promote moderation with fresh vigor. Anheuser-Busch, which will spend some $325 million selling its top-ranked Budweiser and other brands this year, has spent $40 million during the past 18 months on its "Know When to Say When" campaign. While the firm broadcast 21 beer ads during the past N.C.A.A. final-four series, for example, it also aired 17 "responsible consumption" messages. As students flocked to spring-break sites in recent weeks, the brewers were advertising a "party smart" theme. In its tent at Daytona Beach, Fla., Miller posted signs reading THINK WHEN YOU DRINK.
Suggestions of restraint, though, were easily overwhelmed by party-hearty marketing themes. In the Miller tent, the company was giving away neon baseball caps to anyone who could show proof of purchase for two cases of the beer. Up the beach, Anheuser-Busch had installed a 20-ft.-tall inflatable six- pack of Budweiser. Poolside at Howard Johnson, Bacardi was advertising rum- and-orange-juice cocktails for 25 cents. Read a marquee outside one beachfront bar: PARTY 'TIL YOU PUKE.