Kids Club Protests Liquor Displays

A group of Washington Middle School students, representing an anti-drug and alcohol campus club, inspected beer and liquor displays at local stores Thursday in an effort to wipe out child-appealing advertisements.

“We represent Club Live and we’re trying to get beer promoted to adults, not kids,” 12-year-old Josh Insalaco told a manager at one store. “Halloween theme ads should not be mixed with beer because it attracts children.”

When Insalaco and his peers asked the manager to display a “Hands Off Halloween” poster in the store window, the woman said she’d have to ask her boss.

Meanwhile, Bob Gala, owner of Bob’s Liquor Store, signed the poster and taped it to a prominent liquor display.

“They have a good point,” he said.

The program is being sponsored by the county Department of Education’s Club Live, which has chapters at seven middle and junior high schools in La Habra, Huntington Beach, La Palma, Los Alamitos and Lake Forest. All the clubs are visiting stores.

The campaign, which includes a petition-signing blitz against using animated Halloween themes in alcohol promotions, aims to sway merchants against displaying such ads, said Ranjit Mayadas, Club Live’s program manager.

Studies show that alcohol is the most commonly used drug among youngsters between 8th and 12th grades and often is related to crimes and social problems, Mayadas said.

“A lot of kids go to these stores and when they see beer ads with animated characters, they think, ‘That must be something good,’ ” said Katie Sparks, 13. “We’re just trying to get the stores to stop promoting that stuff.”