Most websites even remotely related to alcohol will ask you to do some sort of age verification before you’re able to view their content. They generally do this by asking you for your birth month/year or simply ask you to check a box, click a button, or whatever to acknowledge whether you’re over the age of 21 or not. I find these ploys so easily defeated that I think they’re silly. However, they’re so pervasive that I had to wonder whether it was required by some sort of law… or was it simply alcohol vendors attempting to be responsible… or was it simply a convention most sites see their competitors employing and they assume they must also? I decided to do a little research and figure this out.
Firstly, I want to say that I believe our job as web designers is to make information accessible. I strongly believe we should limit the number of hurdles one has to jump over to get to that content. So, I vehemently oppose those pages which offer little more than an animated site logo and an “enter” link of some sort. These need to be vanquished from the web entirely since they offer zero value to the site visitor. I view the “are you 21” page as a similar barrier to the content.
Even if you think verifying the age of site visitors is a good idea, then we have to ask ourselves how we can do so effectively because anyone who can do simple math can add a false birth date/month to access the site’s content. Are we really being anymore responsible by creating this hurdle? Any sense that we are being more responsible is clearly an illusion.
So now the question, are we required by law to verify the age of the visitor prior to allowing access? The simple answer is thankfully “No!”. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) issued a report in 2008 titled “Self-Regulation in the Alcohol Industry” which offers various suggestions. Here’s a quote…
It also recommended that sites featuring content likely to have strong appeal to minors, or that permit alcohol purchases online, consider use of age-verification technologies
So there it is. It’s up to the industry to self-regulate. It’s our choice. It is not law. And since it is not good design, I would love to see these pages removed unless we find a way of verifying age which is not so easily defeated.
Thanks for the post Chris,
I agree with you about the poor usability/friendliness of an age-wall and am glad it’s not legally required. If it was, a possible workaround could be an above 21 checkbox at checkout. Since minors are physically allowed into liquor stores, just not allowed to purchase, the online age-wall could be in the same location (checkout).
That would be a step in the right direction, though I still think even that is unnecessary since surely any alcohol purchases will require verification by ID at the point of transfer. I’ve ordered wine online through BevMo and they warn me that age verification will be required before I can accept shipment. I’ve never had my wine shipped. I always save shipping costs and just pick up my order at the nearest store. Appreciate your comment!
I think there is a simple solution, I’m not sure why it hasn’t been developed yet. Bars all over the United States have hand-held ID scanners that verify whether the presenter’s ID is valid and whether they are above 21 or not.
Wouldn’t a very simple solution be to incorporate the same verification system into a website? You enter your State ID/Driver’s license number and expiry and it quickly queries the same information as the handheld.
I’m sure that wouldn’t be too difficult, but does a user really need to be 21 to view content about alcohol? We shouldn’t advertise to those under 21 and we certainly shouldn’t condone or encourage underaged drinking, but I don’t see any harm (nor point) in excluding them from the content itself. What do you think?
Hi, nice post. It is annoying that we had to add an age verification section to the site, but the client was insistent. I tried to design it as visually pleasing as possible. Be great if you guys could check it out. http://www.kingofsohodrinks.com/
Cheers
J
My husband and I think the age verification is idiotic. I wanted a couple drink recipes and one website in particular asked for age verification every time I tried another recipe option. They don’t sell the liquor on their website, so what’s the point. Responsible drinking is a stupid excuse in my opinion. This annoyance could cause someone like myself to not buy their brand. Thanks for clearing up the legality…
@Sandra Tate
I’m constantly dumbfounded that companies continue to throw up hurdles at their site’s visitors unnecessarily. It is a huge turn off, and I wish they’d think before they add those needless, easily defeated age-gates to their site. Thanks for adding your voice to the mix.
I have co-founded a brewing company myself and have heard that the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) and ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) are much more likely to act friendly towards and accept the licensing requests from companies that put up this verification. I agree that it essentially useless and easily defeated, but if my licensing is at stake I will certainly do it. Please accept the design compromise as a cost of doing business in this realm.
I actually came to this site looking for an elegant manner of handling this. I’m currently using Squarespace for my site and am needing quite a number of improvements. Any suggestions?
@Joshua
Firstly, Kombucha Beer? Sounds pretty interesting! Best of luck with that!
It’s very interesting what you’ve heard. I wonder though about how true that is. I’m not saying it couldn’t be true, but I am skeptical. However, I totally understand someone taking the pragmatic “better safe than sorry” approach as well. That is a totally legit reason for adding it to your site, but I’d love to know how real that threat is.
To answer your question, I’d recommend keeping it as simple as possible. If you must age-gate your users, simply ask them “are you over 21?” with a set of [yes] [no] options similar to this image. Then, ideally you’d remember their decision and never ask again…at least not during that session. I did a quick search and found this article titled Crashing the Age Gate, which seems to offer some thoughts on this topic. Hope this helps.
Page 15, section D: For any website or page controlled by the brand, the company should require age verification before communicating with a visitor.
@Craig which document are you referring to? There’s no section D on page 15 of the document I referred to, nor did a search help me find it. Under the section titled “Online Alcohol Sales” (pg 21), I also found this interesting quote…
I’m with you Chris… Millions of people watch the SuperBowl and the ads that come with it, including a substantial segment under 21. Miller-Coors and ABInBev would be in an uproar if before their commercials it required a 20 second delay (that they’d need to pay for) for all under 21 to leave the room. It’s nonsense and for some reason we (*generally speaking) don’t apply that thinking to the web. I understand the purchasing online aspect, but as it was already clearly stated, a valid ID would be required to receive the order anyhow. Good read, keep’em coming.
I agree the age verification is just an attempt to show some level of responsibilty so if it is going to be used in the pretty lax way I see it all the time, at least make it quick and simple. I prefer the check box validation for simplicity but if the date selector is required at least remove the first 21 years!! Scrolling all the way down to 1961 is a pain in the arse. 🙂
My guess is that they are disguising market research as a legal requirement. By asking for age of website user, they then can amass data that might direct them where to spend their marketing $$$.
I wouldn’t mind this age verification nonsense if websites would send my computer a cookie so they remember my age. I’m 54 fricken years old with a white beard. I don’t get carded in pubs anymore, so it’s really frustrating to have websites ask me every fricken time if I’m over 18, or 21 or whatever age they think I might be.
I just got emailed with the request for at least mentioning it on my website, before the payment gateway provider decides that I’m allowed to be their client … How about that ?
Care to provide more detail? What’s your website? Who’s the payment provider? What exactly did they say?
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