This week in Arizona, on the occasion of Beer Business Daily’s Beer Summit, I delivered a speech that addressed a number of issues facing the beverage alcohol industry today. I covered a lot of ground but I think the most critical component of this speech was Diageo’s call for all the industry’s companies and their associations to rally in support for the FTC’s “We Don’t Serve Teens” campaign.

This campaign, which was unveiled in October by the FTC and The Century Council, aims to educate adults on the ramifications of providing alcohol to minors. We, at Diageo, have already endorsed this campaign and recognize the importance of its message: don’t provide alcohol to those under the legal drinking age. It’s irresponsible and it’s dangerous. If all the members of our industry unite to spread this message, imagine how loud our voice will be and how far our message will travel!

Our distributor in Arizona, Alliance Beverage Distributing Co., is just as excited about this campaign as we are. Robert Smith, President of Alliance Beverage said: “We are excited to work with Diageo on tackling this significant issue and we are looking forward to partnering with retailers here in Arizona and across the nation to spread the message that ‘We Don’t Serve Teens.’”

Curbing underage drinking is the responsibility of all of us, as beverage alcohol companies and citizens of this country. I hope America’s beverage alcohol industry, from the suppliers, distributors, retailers to all the beer companies, wine companies and  spirit companies heed our call and take this meaningful step to help spread the message that “We Don’t Serve Teens” and neither should YOU. We need to join forces on this issue. Operating in a vacuum simply won’t work. But together, as a united front, we can fight this battle head-on.

Cheers!

guy