Won't somebody please think of the children?

As the Ontario Convenience Stores Association continues to push to sell beer and wine at corner stores and gas stations, The Beer Store has taken an unconventional approach to swaying the public against the idea.

The Beer Store's campaign, under the name Ontario Beer Facts, has released an ad depicting a group of minors buying liquor at a convenient store — a depiction of the "scary future" in store should the Convenience Stores Association have their way.

"Alcohol in convenience stores?," the video asks. "It's just not right for our kids."

Responses on social media indicate viewers are not taking the video seriously. Some call it laughable, while others classify it as an attack ad.

"The video released last week by the Beer Store is such a low blow to the 70,000 men and women that work in a convenience store in Ontario," said Tom Moher, VP of Mac's Convenience Stores, in a press release. "Are the foreign owners of Ontario's beer monopoly so afraid of competition that they need to resort to demonizing and attacking the hard working men and women that work in our stores?"

The Ontario Convenience Stores Association says the thousands of people who work in its stores have proven they can handle selling other age-restricted products such as cigarettes.

The organization is also presenting a petition it says was signed by more than 400,000 Ontario residents who want beer and wine to be sold in corner stores.

According to an article from the National Post, the president of the group representing the Beer Store will not apologize for the video.

"There's no need to apologize for people getting the facts," Jeff Newton, president of Canada's National Brewers, said in the article. "That's what we continue to do, continue to have that public debate, continue to have that discussion on the basis of cat."

There are some community groups who have rallied behind the commercial's message.

``The reality is, you're going to have too many opportunities for purchasing and too little control over the sale,'' said Anne Leonard, executive director of Arrive Alive Drive Sober.

The Beer Store, meanwhile, questioned corner stores' record when it comes to turning away teens who try to buy cigarettes.

It pointed to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's 2013 study on student drug use, which found 15.6 per cent of Ontario students between Grades 7 and 12 who smoke had bought cigarettes from convenience stores, gas stations or grocery stores.

The idea of selling wine and beer in corner stores has been around for decades, but Ontario has so far refused to allow it, though other provinces such as Quebec have.

The province had vowed to expand the availability of beer and wine, and earlier this month, said it would move ahead with plans to set up liquor store outlets in select grocery stores by the end of the year.

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