AA is no different than anything else out there in the respect that there are varying qualities of it. You can buy a box of popcorn from one manufacturer and it might be the best stuff you have ever eaten then buy a box from a different manufacturer and feel like throwing it away after the first bite then buy another box from another manufacturer and find it somewhere in between the two. AA is the same way there are excellent meetings, there are horrible meetings, and there are average meetings.
AA itself, not even a bad meeting, does not kill people, alcoholism kills people.
If someone is truly looking for a solution they can easily pick up the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and find the solution, in fact there is a chapter called "How It Works" which spells out the solution. There are millions of meetings across the world which means there are many too choose from even though it might mean a person may have to drive a bit or ride a bus to find one that carries the message of AA but one can be found most anywhere anymore.
I have been to some of the social group meetings, one that even sells t-shirts, like you have described and truly feel they do not represent AA. In my opinion the social group meetings really should stop calling themselves AA as they are truly not AA based but social group based. But if one reads the Traditions then it is clear that one group can not control what another group does but each of us as individuals has a choice of whether or not we attend or support that type of meeting. So I actively seek out meetings that carry the message of the solution to alcoholism rather than waste my time and energy focusing on what is wrong with those groups. I put my energy into what is in my power to control and that is my actions rather than other people's or groups actions.