Bar Owner Installs Pregnancy Test Dispenser for Unique Campaign

by Laura Sussely-Pope

In the Spotlight: Bar Owner Installs Pregnancy Test Dispenser

Here's a new and interesting idea that might get some traction!

A bar owner in Minnesota has installed a pregnancy test dispenser in his women's restroom. Women can purchase the $3 pregnancy tests with signage reading, "Think Before You Drink."

The dispensers are the brainchild of Jody Allen Crowe, an expert in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the executive director of Healthy Brains for Children, an organization whose mission is to prevent prenatal exposure to alcohol.

When bar owner Tom Fredrik was approached about installing the dispenser, he said it was "strange" but "it took about 30 seconds to say yes."

The "Think Before You Drink" Initiative began on July 19, according to the Healthy Brains for Children website.

Pub 500 is the first business to feature the dispenser. Some bar customers are intrigued by it. One customer said, "It's either a cocktail or a kiddie cocktail from that point on." Well put! Perhaps this twist on an old idea will actually work!

This endeavor comes after the CDC revealed that one in 13 women who are pregnant drink, and of those women, one in 5 report binge drinking while pregnant. Binge drinking is described as four drinks in 2 hours.

It will be interesting to see how many dispensers end up being installed and used. Hopefully the "Think Before You Drink" campaign will make some women think twice before ordering that glass of wine.

Would you use such a dispenser? Do you think it is over-advocating or about time?

Photo courtesy of Healthybrainsforchildren.org.