- The Salt Lake Tribune reports that there is a move afoot in Utah to ban the sale of low alcohol malt beverages by supermarkets.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says that greater control is needed over the sale of such products because the companies that make them are using suggestive advertising to entice underage drinkers.
According to the American medical Association (AMA), the Tribune reports, “alcohol advertising in magazines declined between 2001 and 2002 in every category except low-alcohol drinks, which grew ‘by a staggering 216 percent.’ In addition, underage girls saw 95 percent more magazine advertising for the sweet alcoholic drinks than did women of legal age.”
The logic seems to be that if the companies are going to try and entice underage drinkers, then Utah is going to at least make it harder for these minors to buy them. If the ban is issued, these beverages will have to acquired at state liquor stores.
- Under pressure and a threat of strike at two of its warehouses, William Morrison Supermarkets in the UK has agreed to engage in collective bargaining with two unions that had expressed concern about the possible layoffs.
