Who We Are - Overview

1 September 2001 - Lakeside Gazette
East County teens rally in protest

As high school and college students throughout East County go back to school, they will hit local stores in search of school supplies, the latest fashion trend and materials to give their room a new look. Posters are a popular item among teenagers and they can find those at their favorite stores. Posters such as “Child Hood,” depicting three small children smoking a marijuana joint.

Marijuana is not your thing? Don’t worry. This very popular store among teenagers carries many more posters to choose from. The “What I really Learned in School,” depicting any liquor shot imaginable, is a popular one. But if you want to be in on the latest trend, then you got to have the Ecstasy one. This one is really popular so don’t be surprised if you can’t find it there.

For teenagers, these are common items they expect to be able to get at their most popular stores. They buy these types of merchandise without really thinking about the message behind these popular items. They buy them not realizing that they are encouraging them to drink and do drugs.

“It’s so common nowadays to see these kinds of merchandise, that teenagers don’t think about the messages behind them. We don’t think about the effects because we are raised to think that drinking and doing drugs are nothing out of the ordinary. Adults and teens believe that experimenting with drugs and alcohol is a phase every teenager has to go through, a ‘rite of passage’, said 16-yrear-old Reina Marquez, a member of Students Together Against Alcohol ‘n Drugs (STAAND), the youth component of Communities Against Substance Abuse.

“This is not true,” added the El Cajon High School junior “The reality is that drugs and alcohol are not the norm.’ The majority of us youth, do make the right decision and don’t drink or do drugs.”

Marquez, together with dozens of other East County youth and community residents marched in front of Parkway Plaza Mall and K-Mart in El Cajon. Their goal: Get stores in East County to stop selling merchandise promoting underage drinking and other drug abuse.

“We are tired of being bombarded with advertisements telling us it’s okay to drink and do drugs. We are taking a stand. We want all stores in East County that sells this type of merchandise to pull them off their shelves,” said Marquez, carrying a sign that read “Be a good corporate citizen. Stop selling alcohol and drugs posters and merchandise.”

Marching right beside her was Marquez’s fellow STAAND member, Melina Mena. “They are sending teens the wrong message; telling them that it’s normal to drink and smoke marijuana,” said the 15-year-old sophomore at El Cajon Valley High School. “We are not against these stores. But we hope that they decide to do the right thing.”

The students decided to march and make their petition public only, after earlier attempts to get the stores to pull the merchandise off their shelves were unsuccessful.

Earlier this summer, members of STAAND gathered almost 200 signatures from other teenagers at Parkway Plaza Mall. They then submitted those signatures, along with a petition letter requesting they stop selling such merchandise, to the national president of Spencer Gifts, and Universal Studios, the parent company. They also sent a similar petition to representatives of Uforia and K-Mart.

Spencer Gifts replied saying “Our merchandise often causes disagreement among people with different tastes and views, but that is natural, healthy and not a bad thing a key part of our success…Spencer gifts does not advocate abuse, in any way, including through our merchandise.” They added that they are poking “fun at who and what we are as a society.” The other stores have not responded.

But the youth and their parents see nothing funny about encouraging young people to drink and do drugs, especially when alcohol is already the number one drug of choice among teens.

A recent survey of young people between the ages of 10 and 17 conducted at Parkway Plaza by Communities Against Substance Abuse revealed that 41 percent of students had drank 10 or more times in their lifetime with 28 percent of them having been drunk at least 10 or more times.

This is not surprising, especially since youth are constantly bombarded with alcohol promotions. The alcohol industry spends nearly 2 billion each year to promote their products. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, by age 18, a young person would have seen over 100,000 television commercials, billboards, and advertisements promoting alcohol consumption. This could be the reason why the Budweiser frogs are better recognized by teenagers and kids than Tony the Tiger.

“When young people see these posters and other merchandise, they think that drinking is normal and okay,” said Matt Ellis, a senior at West Hill High School, who together Marquez initiated the campaign. “We would like for these stores to stop selling posters giving the false impression that it is okay to use and abuse alcohol and other drugs. The last thing we want to see is young people wasting their money on these illegal substances. After all, if they spend their money on drugs, then they cannot buy their merchandise.

The alcohol industry claims that their ads, billboards, and posters are not aimed at teenagers. But a recent survey revealed that students in grades 5-12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink. San Diego State Marketing Professor, Dr. Michael Belch agrees. “Just by looking at these posters, it’s obvious that their target audience are teenagers,” said Dr. Belch in a news conference prior to the student march. “The message is also clear. They are telling young people that they are going to drink or smoke marijuana no matter what. The ‘tough’ decision for teenagers is deciding what beer to drink or which type of marijuana they are going to smoke.”

Teenagers are tired of receiving mixed messages about alcohol and other drugs. On the one hand, they are constantly being told not to use substances and on the other, their minds are inundated with messages telling them to go ahead, to drink and do drugs.

“It’s extremely difficult for teenagers to make the decision to stay alcohol and drug-free. The last thing we need is stores selling items encouraging us to drink and do drugs," added Marquez. "It's time that Spencer Gifts, Uforia, K-Mart and any other stores that sell alcohol and other drug paraphernalia to stop selling items that promote dangerous and addicting activities."