PETA wants cadets to drink out of the keg, not the carton

Gazette - Montreal/September 6, 2002

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is taking its "Got Beer?" campaign to the Air Force Academy to ask cadets to quit drinking milk and drink beer instead.

The animal-rights group is targeting the academy and 14 other colleges recently ranked as a party school or "stone-cold sober" by the Princeton Review , a test-preparation and college admissions company with no ties to Princeton University.

Students polled in the unscientific survey ranked the academy as an all-studies, no-messing-around school, second in the category "scotch and soda, hold the scotch." Brigham Young University ranked first.

"Students at the U.S. Air Force Academy know that beer should only be consumed in moderation, but they may not be aware that even one glass of milk supports animal abuse and harms your health," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA spokesman.

The group plans to place a "Got Beer?" advertisement - a spoof on the popular "Got Milk?" campaign - in the Academy Spirit, the school newspaper, in the next two weeks. This fall or next spring, the group plans to come to Colorado Springs and hand out bottle openers and beer cozies promoting the message, Friedrich said.

The group launched the "Got Beer?" campaign in 2000 but pulled it after Mothers Against Drunk Driving and dairy farmers complained. The organization recently revived it after a study by a prominent university criticized the consumption of milk and touted some benefits of beer, Friedrich said.

Academy officials said Thursday they were not aware of the group's plans to come here or to advertise in the school paper.

"It's questionable at this point whether we'd run it," said Lt. Greg Hignite, academy spokesman. "It's a government publication. It can't violate good order and discipline."