Washington ? Slick commercials for fruit-flavored alcohol drinks are luring millions of teenagers proof that the liquor industry’s voluntary advertising guidelines aren’t working, consumer advocates said Tuesday.

“Those ads put liquor brand names right in kids’ faces,” said George Hacker, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s alcohol policies project.

He called for tighter guidelines to minimize youth exposure.

A survey, taken by a polling firm for CSPI, estimated that 22 million teenagers 3 out of 4 people age 12-18 watch television after 9 p.m. on school nights, when alcohol ads routinely air. Six in 10 youths could name a specific company or brand that advertises during that time.

Ads for “malternative” beverages featuring loud music and attractive young people laughing or dancing are aimed at teens, critics said.

Like beer, the beverages are based on malt but are usually clear and flavored. Last year, CSPI complained that the sweetened malt drinks are intended as bridges to other forms of alcohol.

The Federal Trade Commission, after an investigation that included a 10-city retail placement survey, a review of advertising and an analysis of internal alcohol company documents, including market and consumer research records, concluded that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to conclude that the beverages were being targeted to minors.