Ethic

Case 7.2: Spring Break, Beer, and Alcohol on Campus

1. Summary

As early as 1991, alcohol ads mix young, fun, and enticing activities that attract minors. U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello ask industry to voluntary cut those ads. However, by 2003, many companies as Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Skyy Blue Malt Liquor, were still heavy. Most of the companies advertise on MTV. The ads targeted at college students became the big issue when fatal injuries related to alcohol increase from 1,500 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2009 among U.S. college students 18 to 24 years of age. There were 599,000 injuries, 696,000 assaults, and 150,000 health problems related to alcohol use on college campuses in 2008. The studies show that freshmen are at greatest risk for alcohol deaths. Twenty five percent of academic probations and disqualifications are attributed to alcohol use and abuse. Number of college students who drove under influence of alcohol increased from 2.3 million to 2.8 million. The beer companies are spending hundreds of millions every year to present a very positive image of drinking. That overwhelms all attempts to talk about the other side of the issue. Because of concern about liability as well as image, the ads on college students during spring break have been downplayed. San Diego passed a ban on drinking on its beaches. However, students try to get away from it by drinking on a flotilla of rafts. U.S. companies began to use Mexico, Amsterdam, and Caribbean as liability-free spring-break areas and market to the college students. This attracted college students because the drinking age in U.S is twenty one, but it is only eighteen in travel destinations abroad.Because of increasing numbers of college-age drinker, accidents, and fatalities, college and universities have begun a number of programs to curb student drinking.

2. Compare and contrast

3. Impact of the chosen business strategies

The beer and alcohol companies have chosen strategy as cutting...