He reminds us that most observers initially pooh-poohed the notion that the anti-tobacco lawsuits could succeed in squelching what was, after all, a "voluntary action." Why did the trial lawyers win? Barr explains:
The answer is that the trial lawyers succeeded because they recognized the weak spot in the tobacco industry's defenses. The logic of its arguments was strong. But the industry's marketing also happened to include a tangential target -- young adults -- that was distasteful to many Americans. Recognizing this vulnerability, the trial lawyer bar began to claim that children were a primary target of tobacco industry advertising. In fact, that wasn't true. But the public was convinced -- and Joe Camel was made out to be the advertising equivalent of Adolph Hitler.
The result was that public opinion began to shift perceptibly in favor of the trial lawyer bar, and away from the logic of the tobacco industry's primary defense (voluntary adult decision-making). And the rest, as they say, is history. At this point, the tobacco industry is even cooperating in efforts to encourage children not to smoke. But it's too little, too late.
Having learned from their slow start in the anti-tobacco campaign, this time the trial lawyers are now cutting right to the chase. They are carefully laying the groundwork for an assault on the alcohol industry by claiming -- of course -- that its advertising is targeting the children. They allege the alcohol industry is using very subtle and "sophisticated" advertising to target underage drinkers, and thereby encourage teens to drink alcohol.
As in their earlier tobacco litigation, the trial lawyers have brought in a powerful ally -- physicians. Of course, not all physicians are on their side -- but, enough of them are, to give the impression that they speak for this most respected of professions.
Additional allies for the trial lawyers come from academia -- in particular, a "watchdog" consumer group formed at Georgetown University, called the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, or "CAMY." They also have been recruited from the army of former federal bureaucrats that hang around academia like remoras on sharks. This pinstripe army is being assembled by the trial lawyers in an attempt to convince the American public that alcoholic beverage manufacturers are engaged in an evil mission to turn the country's teens into alcohol-dependent adults.
These warriors against all things evil, including alcohol, are now engaged in a massive effort to regulate and limit alcohol advertising. One target of the lawsuits they have started is magazines containing alcohol advertising that they say appeal to young males (specifically, those under 21 years of age). In fact, it's plain that the same advertising which appeals to young males -- beautiful young women dressed in alluring outfits -- necessarily appeals to older men as well. (Indeed, because sex sells, and beauty sells, it's hard to think of a field of advertising that does not employ beautiful young women -- including cosmetic companies that themselves market to young women.) But that fact either doesn't occur to these crusaders, or is simply ignored by them.
This promises to be a long-term legal battle of epic proportions. What the alcohol industry should not do is follow in the tobacco companies' footsteps and presume they will win because they happen to be right -- for that is the path to ruin.
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