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December 24, 2001 • Volume 4, Number 51
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News
Media
NBC Drops Voluntary Ban on Hard Liquor Ads
Network's decision ends 50-year dry spell of liquor ads on network television; draws fire from wide range of critics
LOS ANGELES
NBC last week broke ranks with other U.S. TV networks, reopening its airwaves to hard liquor ads for the first time in more than 50 years -- a move many say is pragmatic, but which critics condemn as putting profits before public health.During "Saturday Night Live," NBC aired a commercial spot sponsored by Smirnoff vodka, a brand owned by the British alcohol superpower Diageo PLC.
While hard liquor ads are not unusual on cable TV, the Smirnoff commercial was the first such ad on national network television since 1948, when the alcohol industry imposed its own voluntary ban, reported the Reuters news agency.
In 1996, the industry abandoned the ban, but took no action to advertise on network TV's long-untapped market. Last week, that changed -- something observers say was bound to happen sooner or later.
"We're not 100 years ago where whiskey was the work of the devil," consumer products consultant Manny Goldman told Reuters. "The old arguments that it's bad, bad -- those just don't hold."
Analysts point out that TV, which has long spurned ads for hard liquor, readily welcomes commercials from beer and wine makers. During the first nine months of 2001, beer makers spent nearly $607 million on TV ads -- networks' 11th highest source of ad revenues, according to the New York Times.
Such close ties to the beer industry seems hypocritical when you consider that "there's the same amount of alcohol in a [hard liquor] cocktail as there is in a 12-ounce glass of beer and a five-ounce glass of wine," a spokesman for Allied Domecq, a hard liquor firm, complained to Reuters.
The American Medical Association condemned NBC's decision as putting sagging ad revenues before public health, warning that the network's decision would lead to underage drinking.
But NBC says the deal it has struck with Diageo sets strict guidelines on how alcohol firms promote their products. The network's code requires hard liquor firms to air four months of public-service announcements about responsible drinking before airing any regular ads. Once that probationary period is over, the alcohol firms must continue to air one public-service announcement for every four regular ads.
Hard liquor commercials can only be shown after 9 PM on TV shows with a minimum 85 percent viewership aged 21 or older. In addition, all actors in the ads must be 30 years old or older and cannot be active professional sports figures, and the ads cannot show or promote the intoxicating effects of liquor, according to the Reuters report.
NBC's main rivals -- ABC, CBS, and Fox -- have said they have no immediate plans to follow suit and air hard liquor ads.
While many groups immediately criticized NBC's decision, others are taking a wait-and-see approach. "The reemergence of liquor ads on network television should be accompanied by a firm commitment from the networks to set a much higher responsibility standard for all alcohol companies," Millie Webb, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said in a statement.
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