By Rick Berman
ABL Washington Counsel
Fighting off activists looking to chew away at beer, wine, and liquor sales is a little like the arcade game Whack-A-Mole: pests continually pop up, and each must be swatted down.
So while ABL members are used to fighting off the attacks of neo-prohibitionists, it's important not to ignore the activists who rear their heads to attack the food our members sell.
Nearly all ABL members have a significant bottom-line interest in food. Whether it's a hamburger at a tavern or a bag of chips at a package store, we've all got something to lose if unchecked rhetoric creates an unhinged customer base.
Unfortunately, right now the other side is more aggressive at reaching the public with their message.
A hamburger won't seem as appetizing to your customers who believe activist claims that mad cow disease is just one bite away.
Chew on this: within the last several weeks, a well-funded and highly active animal rights group placed a full-page ad in the Washington Times which asked: "Are you eating meat from diseased animals?"
That kind of inflammatory language has effects. Words have meaning. They create ideas. And ideas have consequences.
The success of animal rights activists' long scare campaign against beef has fueled public hysteria, making millions believe a mad cow is right around the corner.
A lone homespun activist grabbed national attention for claiming that a so-called "cluster" of 17 individuals was linked to beef served at a New Jersey racetrack. Conclusive scientific evidence to the contrary from the government hasn't been enough to quell that food fear, and a similarly unfounded "cluster" rumor has recently popped up in Idaho.
Then there's the great War On Tuna.
A separate hysteria industry has sprung up to warn people away from eating tuna fish, supposedly because it contains dangerous levels of mercury. One group recently strong-armed Safeway into posting fish-warning labels in stores nationwide. Another group just gave California's attorney general an environmental award for suing companies to force warning labels on tuna cans.
Never mind that the risk to the average American of getting mercury poisoning from a tuna fish sandwich is zero, or that a series of five Harvard studies recently supported the healthfulness of fish.
Eating even small amounts of fish each week, it turns out, can result in a 17 percent lower risk of heart disease, a 12 percent lower risk of stroke, and (when eaten by pregnant women) a modest increase in children's IQ. The Harvard team also concluded that government warnings about mercury in fish can do more harm than good.
Twenty percent of the public now (incorrectly) fears contracting Avian flu from eating chicken. That's according to a late October poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation. By the time you read this, the number will be higher.
Of course, there's no evidence that you can get bird flu from eating tainted chicken. But a huge number of consumers will soon be avoiding chicken when they order lunch or dinner.
But activists don't just rely on exotic diseases. They have capitalized on fat fears, trying to tax, regulate, and litigate away un-favored foods in the name of fighting obesity.
While ABL members aren't the most likely targets of far-fetched obesity lawsuits, there are plenty of people looking to raise the cost and reduce the availability of tasty and convenient foods.
Obesity fear has gotten out of hand, and the threat of bad policy hurting business is all too real.
In recent months, Michigan legislators introduced a fast-food tax; activists in San Diego considered literally banning the ice cream man; and an Illinois physician argued that the government should "mandate that, effective immediately, all portions of food served in restaurants and fast-food places be cut by one-half to two-thirds."
A loony economics professor even went so far as to say: "The solution for the obesity epidemic is to double the minimum wage, which would result in an 80 percent increase in fast-food prices."
Think of the other products that ABL members sell.
Soda? The Center for Science in the Public interest has led the charge for extra taxes, and it has even urged tobacco-style warning labels on soda packaging.
Those sweetened mixers customers love? Most have calories, which–even the dullest of dolts knows–cause obesity when consumed in excess.
And whether it's a package of M&Ms or peanuts, there are plenty of people looking to scare snack foods right off the shelf.
ABL members can't afford not to challenge these food fears. Don't let activists create a mountain out a mole hill. It's better to fight back and continue winning the game of Whack-A-Mole.
Source: ABL Leader, December, 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.