NBC's liquor advertisements: A network drunk on greed

NBC television has selfishly decided to put profits before public health by deciding to air ads for hard liquor.

Editorial. Jan. 28, 2002.

Alcohol is well known to be a major contributing factor in acts of poor judgment. A truly spectacular example of this comes from NBC, which has decided to break the voluntary network television ban on distilled liquor ads.

Airing of the liquor ads, slated to start within a few months, marks the end of half a century of wise restraint by the national networks. The AMA has been blunt in its criticism, labeling NBC's actions "shockingly irresponsible" and "greedy."

NBC's decision is a disappointment, but not a total surprise. Hard liquor ads already appear on some cable outlets and, since 1996, on some local broadcast stations. NBC and the other networks already air beer and wine ads.

All of which is regrettable. If anything, NBC and the electronic media should be heading in the opposite direction, to a comprehensive ban on such ads in a medium so potent with young and other vulnerable viewers.

NBC downplays the significance of its selfish decision, yet it is a major and unconscionable escalation of the promotion of liquor. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that children see almost 2,000 beer and wine ads on television yearly. Adding hard liquor ads to the mix will hardly be an improvement.

Already Americans start drinking too young -- many in their early teens -- and the destructive effects are well catalogued. Nearly 6,400 teens died in alcohol-related crashes last year. Add to that alcohol's contributory role in suicide and homicide -- it's a factor in about one in five such deaths among 9- to 15-year olds. [...]