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.

Meanwhile, there is a well-recognized connection between alcohol use and sexual assault, as well as consensual unsafe sex, with young people as an especially vulnerable population. Add to that alcohol's strong connection with problems at school and with the law.

NBC claims that it has a plan to keep young people from being influenced by the ads. It will "primarily" air them after 9 p.m., a safeguard many parents will recognize as laughable. The ads will not glamorize alcohol use and will include no celebrity endorsers or Joe Camel-style characters. NBC's run-up to the ads is four months of so-called "social responsibility" spots, calling for designated drivers and the like, with other public service announcements worked into the actual liquor ad rotation.

However, NBC's list of safeguards reads rather like a preemptive attempt to keep regulatory heat off the peacock network for a decision that mere common sense suggests is so clearly against the public interest.

Moreover, the recent history of televised liquor ads is one of slippage from high ideals. In 1996, distiller Joseph E. Seagram & Sons broke with the liquor industry's own voluntary ban on the ads. Only a few months later the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States dropped the ban entirely.

As for other broadcasters, they have not so far followed NBC's lead -- and deserve praise for doing so -- but in broadcasting nothing is copied so quickly as financial success. After a few years of multimillion-dollar profits, NBC or even one of its competitors might be inclined to rethink even the flimsy show of corporate responsibility now contained in NBC's standards.

Most individuals who have gone too far with alcohol at least have sense enough to regret it the morning after. Time is running out for NBC to show similar resolve to do the right thing.