Since I'm fairly new on Twitter and still trying to sort it out, an article in the current issue of Advertising Age caught my eye. "Michelob joins keg party at Twitter, but will its tweets draw heat?" asks the headline, while the subhead makes reference to the age-verification problems that added to Anheuser-Busch's decision to pull the plug on its Bud.tv experiment.


The article mentioned six brands with Twitter feeds, with followings ranging from a few hundred to nearly 4,700. Nothing like the followings that Ashton Kutcher and Oprah pulled, but still a fair audience.
As I read the article, I wondered how tight the liquor marketers are with trying to keep underage teens from being exposed to what are, essentially, marketing messages. Just for fun, I opened a Twitter account that has the word "teen" in the name. And the profile says he's "a curious teen." I wondered if that might raise any sort of red flag.
As my teenage alter ego, I was quickly able to begin following five of the six twitter feeds. (The sixth one mentioned in the Ad Age story didn't work when I tried it.) But without any hassle or even a screen asking me to verify my age, I became a teenage follower of Michelob, New Belgium Beer, Sauza Tres Generaciones tequila from Don Cenobio, and King Estate vineyards from Oregon. I saw a welcome message from Michelob reminding that curious teen that "we're here for you and for the beer." And Don Cenobio tells me "Tequila pairs nicely w/an aged Gruyère or sharp Cheddar." A hint for my "teenager" to raid the parents' refrigerator for some good cheese to go with the tequila in the liquor cabinet.
Just as an aside, my new Twitter account also had four followers within minutes of opening it -- a punk rock band with a link to their MySpace page, and three explicit porn sites. I'm sure of real interest to a curious teen.
The profile pages for two of the liquor companies had wording indicating the site is intended for those 21 or over. One said you had to be 21 to engage in chat, however when my "teenager put" up a question, it went through with no problem. As I was writing this, I had an email from Michelob, saying since they sell beer, they need me to verify that I'm 21+. Keeps the lawyers happy, but what's to stop a teen from lying about his age?
And -- get this -- at least one of the liquor companies doesn't seem to be taking this too seriously. One of the companies mentioned in the Advertising Age article retweeted it, sending it publicly to the other companies mentioned. And King Estate vineyards actually posted a message back, visible to anyone following, seemingly making light of it by saying..."No problem, we figured we were in pretty good company."
Some joke, eh? Ask a parent of one of the 8,000 teens (conservatively estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) who die in alcohol-related car crashes every year if they see humor in that cavalier attitude.
Clearly, control over who sees content online is a challenge. Tobacco companies, as far as I can see, have wisely stayed away. I know it's early in the game for marketing use of Twitter and other social media. But a simple sentence saying "21 and over only" doesn't do a thing other than, perhaps, satisfy the lawyers.
Let's take some responsibility here. Or is that asking too much? (Remember what happened to the tobacco companies' ability to freely advertise?)
Post-Script: After I posted this, my teen alter-ego received this email from Michelob: "Based on your personal bio, I am going to block you. We don't want followers who are underage." The A-B Twitter-master is on the ball. Good for them.