The disproportionate amount of alcohol advertising and promotion in the African American community has been an impetus for NAAAPI to be an educational and advocacy force against the alcohol industry. The alcohol industry has been relentless in promoting malt liquor, hard liquor, beer, and other alcoholic beverages to America’s youth, particularly to Black youth. The industry has targeted African American by excessively advertising and promoting alcohol through billboards, alcohol distributors, magazines, and extreme amounts of signage in store windows. In fact, one way you can tell the decline of a community is by the number of alcohol distributors in a neighborhood.

Early in its history, NAAAPI tackled the promotion of alcohol in African American communities when PowerMaster malt liquor was introduced in Chicago, in 1991. At that time, African American represented about 40% of the city’s population. Clergymen in Chicago confronted the industry head-on and later became strong allies of NAAAPI in its advocacy work. Meanwhile, NAAAPI wrote letters to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) raising objections to the wording used by the manufacturers to promote PowerMaster. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (AFT) took up the charge and PowerMaster was subsequently removed from the market.

NAAAPI coined the phrase “unpaid walking billboards” to describe how the alcohol (and tobacco) industry promotes its products when people wear t-shirts and caps with alcohol company logos. T-shirts and cap exchanges promoted by NAAAPI increased community awareness of the proliferation of alcohol promotion and gave communities the opportunity to advocate for themselves.

The advocacy work of NAAAPI continues as it addresses the aim of the alcohol industry to advertise hard liquor on television, excessive promotion of alcohol in the African American community, and the marketing of products that can lure the youth of America to use alcohol.