A drink by any other name.......

This could leave a bad taste in the mouths of liquor industry execs. My friends at the Center for Government Reform just released a national poll that has some disturbing news for the liquor industry: Many Americans aren’t buying its alleged public service campaign that “a drink is a drink.”

The survey found that half of those polled – and more than half of all drinkers surveyed -- believe that a drink is not a drink because liquor is more powerful than beer and wine, and can be consumed much faster.

The “equivalency” theory has been promoted by the liquor industry as a public safety message. Its theme: There’s no difference between beer, wine, or hard liquor if they are consumed in “standard sizes,” or in other words, “A drink is a drink.”

The poll, however, found that most Americans don’t use standard serving sizes when they have a drink.

Moreover, they do not believe the liquor industry’s effort is purely a public service campaign. A full 75 percent believe that “equivalency” is being promoted to make liquor seem less harmful, and 68 percent believe it is being done to increase liquor’s appeal among young drinkers.
Notes my friend, Center Vice President Michelle Plasari: “Equivalency clearly is a Trojan Horse message. Creating a public perception of parity among clearly different types of alcohol is the first step in the liquor industry’s plan to erase any differences among beer, wine, and hard liquor when it comes to taxation, licensing, and marketing. Duping the public in order to levy more taxes and regulation is not in anyone’s best interest.”