Posted on: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

No offense intended by MADD cartoon

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

If you close one eye and stare at the back of that milk carton, you might see something that will get you mad. Or MADD.

For about the last year, the back panel of Foremost half-gallon skim milk cartons has sported a three-panel cartoon meant to encourage kids to say no to alcohol.

In the first panel, a kid is playing video games as an adult calls to him, "Kaleo! Time to go to the picnic!!!"

In the second frame, Kaleo has his surfboard under his arm. A man with dark glasses and a moustache is holding up a can of beer.

"Eh, Kaleo like one beer!?"

"No thanks!!! Uncle Kimo, I'm going surfing!!!!" Kaleo replies.

The third frame shows Kaleo surfing. He has a MADD sticker on his board.

Above the list of sponsors for the ad is a drawing of smiling, shaka-ing Kaleo, who has successfully navigated the negative influences of Uncle Kimo.

If you're looking for trouble, you can find it here. Is this an ethnic slur put on milk cartons and sent into the homes of Hawai'i families? Are they saying that Native Hawaiian families are so blatantly dysfunctional that they're giving kids beer and letting "funny uncles" get a little too funny?

Donna Gutierrez, youth program manager at Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Hawai'i, said that wasn't at all what was meant.

"We just wanted to make it local. We were thinking that families are going to be sitting at breakfast, eating their cereal, and we wanted kids, local kids, to relate to local names. We were hoping that that would be beneficial," she said. "Our focus was just to make it local, not to target the Hawaiian culture at all."

Gutierrez says that in the year since the campaign started, she hasn't had any complaints from the public. In fact, she says, people like the cartoon. "This whole campaign basically stems from our 'social host' law that we introduced, which was passed in May 2003."

The law states that if an of-age adult sponsors or hosts a party and provides alcohol to minors, they will be civilly liable if someone gets hurt. Having the Kaleo character call the adult figure "uncle" was meant to signify that the person offering beer to the minor was of age and known to the child. The designers of the ad campaign specifically didn't want to lay the blame at parents, but wanted to make the point that kids get access to alcohol through adults who are legally able to buy liquor.

"We don't mean to target any ethnicity. We're just trying to get a message out there without offending anyone, but it's just so hard to do these pieces without someone getting offended, so we just do our best. That's all we can do."

Foremost didn't charge to run the public service message, and Gutierrez is hoping the campaign will continue for another year.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.