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Kohl's and Target drop drinking games
Linens-n-Things is also being targeted for selling the drinking games Shots and Ladders and Keg Pong.
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Two of the nation's largest retailers have halted sales of board games that encourage players to drink alcohol, less than a month after drug prevention groups launched letter-writing campaigns that accused the retailers of promoting binge drinking by selling Drinko and similar games.
Target spokeswoman Lena Michaud said in an e-mail Wednesday the chain had pulled Drinko— an adult version of the game Plinko on the Price is Right TV game show — from its stores and website.
Target's move came after letter campaigns by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and Join Together, a public health project at Boston University that says it has a mailing list of about 35,000 drug prevention activists.
Join Together arranged for more than 2,000 protest letters to be sent to Target.
Meanwhile, Kohl's stopped selling similar drinking games in its 817 stores and on its website before Christmas, says Kelli Ramey, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin-based chain. Kohl's was the first target of Join Together's campaign, and was sent more than 2,800 letters beginning Dec. 19, group spokesman Eric Helmuth says.
"The only point of these games is to encourage dangerous consumption," Helmuth says. "Why would a family retailer want to sell games that expressly encourage people to drink until you puke?"
The latest target of letter-writing campaigns is Linens-n-Things, which continues to sell Shots and Ladders, a drinking game based loosely on the children's game Chutes and Ladders. The game, which sells for $9.99, encourages players to "roll the dice, take a chance, take a shot" and comes with six shot glasses.
The Linens-n-Things website also offers a drinking game called Keg Pong.
Linens-n-Things executives did not return phone messages Tuesday and Wednesday.
Shots and Ladders and Drinko are made by Elements, a brand of Syratech, a company based in East Boston, Mass. The company did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The board games, which have been sold for several years, contain no alcohol, and they may be bought by people of any age. It's unclear whether such games have been linked to any deaths or serious injuries, but the controversy over them comes as anti-abuse groups are stepping up efforts to reduce binge drinking, particularly among teens and young adults.
Rates for binge drinking — generally defined as the consumption of at least five drinks in one sitting — have declined slightly in recent years, according to a nationwide study by the University of Michigan. However, the Michigan study found last year that more than a quarter of high school seniors had engaged in binge drinking during the previous two weeks.
"Teen drinking is a huge problem in our country today," says Judy Mezey of Student Assistance Services, a group in Tarrytown, N.Y., involved in the letter-writing campaigns.
"Here we are trying to create an environment that supports young people and helps them make the right decisions. Products like these undermine the efforts of parents and communities."
Linens-n-Things is also being targeted for selling the drinking games Shots and Ladders and Keg Pong.
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Two of the nation's largest retailers have halted sales of board games that encourage players to drink alcohol, less than a month after drug prevention groups launched letter-writing campaigns that accused the retailers of promoting binge drinking by selling Drinko and similar games.
Target spokeswoman Lena Michaud said in an e-mail Wednesday the chain had pulled Drinko— an adult version of the game Plinko on the Price is Right TV game show — from its stores and website.
Target's move came after letter campaigns by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and Join Together, a public health project at Boston University that says it has a mailing list of about 35,000 drug prevention activists.
Join Together arranged for more than 2,000 protest letters to be sent to Target.
Meanwhile, Kohl's stopped selling similar drinking games in its 817 stores and on its website before Christmas, says Kelli Ramey, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin-based chain. Kohl's was the first target of Join Together's campaign, and was sent more than 2,800 letters beginning Dec. 19, group spokesman Eric Helmuth says.
"The only point of these games is to encourage dangerous consumption," Helmuth says. "Why would a family retailer want to sell games that expressly encourage people to drink until you puke?"
The latest target of letter-writing campaigns is Linens-n-Things, which continues to sell Shots and Ladders, a drinking game based loosely on the children's game Chutes and Ladders. The game, which sells for $9.99, encourages players to "roll the dice, take a chance, take a shot" and comes with six shot glasses.
The Linens-n-Things website also offers a drinking game called Keg Pong.
Linens-n-Things executives did not return phone messages Tuesday and Wednesday.
Shots and Ladders and Drinko are made by Elements, a brand of Syratech, a company based in East Boston, Mass. The company did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The board games, which have been sold for several years, contain no alcohol, and they may be bought by people of any age. It's unclear whether such games have been linked to any deaths or serious injuries, but the controversy over them comes as anti-abuse groups are stepping up efforts to reduce binge drinking, particularly among teens and young adults.
Rates for binge drinking — generally defined as the consumption of at least five drinks in one sitting — have declined slightly in recent years, according to a nationwide study by the University of Michigan. However, the Michigan study found last year that more than a quarter of high school seniors had engaged in binge drinking during the previous two weeks.
"Teen drinking is a huge problem in our country today," says Judy Mezey of Student Assistance Services, a group in Tarrytown, N.Y., involved in the letter-writing campaigns.
"Here we are trying to create an environment that supports young people and helps them make the right decisions. Products like these undermine the efforts of parents and communities."
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