ACME Super Bowl Lesson Tests Budweiser's Pledge to `Clean Up' Its Super Bowl Advertising.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M -- A national non-profit group seeking to improve the nation's media questions Budweiser's recent pledge to "make sure the types of situations we (Bud) depict (in our Super Bowl ads) and the jokes we tell don't cross the line of good taste."(1)

"With millions of American children watching, the Super Bowl is the single most important media venue for the beer industry. Beer companies have a history of running ads loaded with content that is very attractive to children and adolescents," says Bob McCannon, Vice President of the independent Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME).

ACME's free 'Tackling the Super Bowl Beer Barons' curriculum, developed with the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, helps children and teens think about how beer companies try and shape kids' consumption. Thousands of teachers downloaded the lesson last year. Here are some sample questions from the lesson. (Note, the lesson was posted before Bud announced that it would run a prevention ad)

1. Why did Bud only play one prevention ad out of so many others it ran?

2. Did the Bud "prevention" ad have the same kind of humor, cleverness, attractive people, music, attention getting devices and entertainment values of the other Bud ads? Why not?

3. Did the ad encourage people to drink less or to get someone else to drive them so that more people could get smashed? Do alcohol companies like designated drivers?

Teachers and students can go to the http://www.acmecoalition.org website and download the free classroom materials. The activities ask children and teens to carefully view beer ads during the Feb. 6 Super Bowl game, and write down which elements are appealing and persuasive. The next day, dubbed "Media Literacy Monday" by ACME, classes will discuss their reactions and findings.

"If students don't receive this information," says McCannon, "not only do they know less about the most powerful medium, but we allow the beer barons to monopolize the socialization of our kids." More curricula is available at www.nmmlp.org.

According to University of New Mexico Medical School pediatrician Victor Strasburger, an ACME advisor and expert on adolescents, alcohol and the media, "Every year, the alcohol industry spends $5.7 billion to get kids to 'just say yes' to drinking, using sophomoric, misogynistic humor, cute animals -- whatever works. It's a form of electronic child abuse."

About ACME

ACME is a member-supported, independent, nonprofit organization based in Albuquerque, N.M. ACME has created a network of educators, health professionals, journalists and other citizens using curriculum aides, conferences and events to help citizen and consumers pay closer attention to the real purpose and impact of news and advertising messages.

(1) -- Bob Lachky, vice president for brand management and director for global brand creative at Anheuser-Busch, NY Times, 1/26/05