Choose Responsibility's Online Strategy

In 1984, Congress added a new requirement to federal transportation funds. Before the federal government would distribute money for highway projects, states were required to raise the legal drinking age from 18 to 21. In the 1970s, many states had lowered the legal drinking age for returning Vietnam War veterans who wanted to buy beer after serving their nation in combat. Every state complied with the near-mandate, fearful that massive interstate projects could not be completed without the federal money. Mothers Against Drunk Driving supported the change. Today, MADD reports more than 20,000 lives have been saved over the following 24 years, as the older legal age kept drunk drivers ages 18 to 21 off the highways.

But John McCardell, president of Middlebury College in Vermont from 1992 to 2004, noticed a different trend over the same period: underage students started drinking in secret. Only upperclassmen could drink in bars and restaurants, where they drank socially with family and friends. Underage students had to hide from campus police and resident assistants in the dorms. Drinking became something done quickly and furtively before starting an evening out. McCardell thinks the higher drinking age has led to a rise in binge drinking, and establishes a disregard for the law that carries into adulthood.

“If binge drinking has never been worse, why do we think the legal age 21 has been successful?” McCardell said to the Boston Globe in a June 2, 2007 article. “Drinking is taking place in out-of-sight places and in settings that increase the harm to the individuals who are consuming alcohol and anyone who finds themselves in their path. I think we can do better.”

When McCardell retired as college president, he started a nonprofit, Choose Responsibility, to advocate moving the legal drinking age to 18.

Choose Responsibility is a small operation. In addition to McCardell, it employs two staff members, an executive director and an assistant, who work from an office in Middlebury. Because of McCardell’s stature and connections, the group has received widespread coverage in the mainstream media, with pieces appearing in the Boston Globe, Newsweek and USA Today during 2007 and 2008, along with segments on CNN, C-SPAN, and Fox News. McCardell does radio and television interviews in smaller markets across the U.S. This fall, “60 Minutes” on CBS will air a piece on the debate over the legal drinking age.

The group’s online operation has not been as successful. Choose Responsibility has pages on Facebook and MySpace, but the group only has around 3,000 “friends” on Facebook. Considering the number of high school and college students who would support lowering the legal drinking age, there is ample room to grow the number of friends. An online petition to lower the national drinking age to 18 has been signed by 30,000 people, but again, this could be expanded. Choose Responsibility has posted multiple video clips of television interviews to YouTube, but the most popular clips have only been viewed several thousand times.

The Web site, chooseresponsibility.org, is professional and easy to navigate. A first-time visitor can quickly achieve their purpose: donating money, learning about subject or volunteering. Choose Responsibility has smartly set up an automatic e-mail tool. The e-mail explains the group’s mission in a formatted message, and it can be sent to a person’s entire address book. There is a “daily update” section of the site, where new information about alcohol use and health is posted. This gives the site some immediacy, something I felt was otherwise lacking. The site felt static. Perhaps a crawling message board, or some other type of movement, would enliven it. Overall, it did not feel like a “young” Web site. The group’s target audience is legislators, who must be convinced to change the law in individual states. The site reflects McCardell’s academic background. Evidence supporting a lower drinking age is available, along with information responding to the arguments put forward by groups who oppose a change, such as MADD and the federal government.

Legislators will be important in this debate, but military veterans, parents and young adults are key groups, too. Creating a Facebook page will not be enough to rally national support. Through e-mail, Choose Responsibility should target campus influentials at colleges around the U.S. and offer to help them set up a Choose Responsibility chapter. The national group could hold regional training sessions where college students leading their chapter could organize awareness-raising events. Overall, the groups must increase their visibility on the Web in a manner that translates into action and public discussion. Creating message boards on the site could help, allowing interested parties to debate the topic, plan events, and organize. I did not detect a large Choose Responsibility presence in the blogosphere. A handful of sites linked to mainstream media articles, but none of the blogs were among the most widely read, such as The Huffington Post. McCardell might want to write pieces for several influential blogs, making it easy for readers to click over to chooseresponsibility.org. Expecting people to stumble across the Web site is not enough, although the “60 Minutes” piece may drive traffic to the site. They need to be ready to capture this wave of interest, and put it to work.