Advertising Alcoholic Beverages to Children Essay example -- Advertise

Advertising Alcoholic Beverages to ChildrenAlcohol manufacturers use a assortment of unscrupulous techniques to advertise alcoholic beverages to children. Perhaps the worst ideal is Anheuser-Busch Co., the worlds largest brewer, which uses child-enticing cartoon images of frogs, dogs, penguins and lizards in ads for Budweiser beer. These Budweiser cartoon characters argon hugely popular with children, just like Joe Camel ads. A KidCom Marketing study once found these Budweiser cartoon character ads were Ameri thunder mug childrens favorite ads. This is no accident. Anheuser-Busch is conducting an advertizing campaign to get children to start drinking beer. These Budweiser ads are unconscionable. So are Phillip Morriss Miller Lite twist to open commercials, which are among childrens top 10 favorite ads, according to another study by KidCom. severe liquor ads on television are equally unconscionable. In June, 1996, Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons Co. broke a 48 year old voluntary banning on advertising hard liquor on television. Five months later, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) re-wrote its Code of Good Practice to allow its member distillers to advertise on radio and television. dismantle if these TV ads are aired only after 9 or 10 PM, they will still reach millions of American children.Alcohol advertising whitethorn increase alcohol consumption, including drinking by minors. Based on this effect, various municipalities around the country have attempted to ban alcohol advertising. These attempts have met with sundry(a) results in the courts. This section will attempt to explain how a municipality can legally ban alcohol advertising.Commercial SpeechThe only constitutional bank check to banning alcohol advertising is First Amendment freedom of speech. Alcohol producers and their advertising companies will usually bring suit against a municipality which bans alcohol advertisements, arguing that the ban is an unconstitutional abridgeme nt of the freedom of speech. Advertising, however, is only commercial speech, which is protected by the First Amendment 1. but not to the extent that political speech is protected. Therefore, a municipality can regulate advertising much more than it can regulate pure First Amendment speech.Types of Alcohol AdvertisingAlcohol is advertised on billboards and other signs, in print, and on radio and television. It is al... ...ard the substance of alcohol as neutral --- neither inherently good nor inherently bad. What matters is how it is used, and we must convey by word and example that the abuse of alcohol is never humorous, acceptable, or excusable.Do alcohol ads portray the products being enjoyed in the most appealing settings and by the most attractive the great unwashed? Of course they often do --- no less than do ads for cars, instant coffee and anti-fungal sprays. That normalcy of alcohol ads helps demystify the product --- which is a good buttocks to begin encouraging realisti c, moderate, and responsible attitudes about it.Responsible attitudes toward alcohol are based on the understanding that such beverages are yet another partitioning of life over which individuals have control, like exercise, personal hygiene, or diet.If alcohol beverages are to be used moderately by those who choose to consume them, therefore its important that these beverages not be stigmatized, compared to illegal drugs, and associated with abuse. They arent dangerous poisons to be hidden from sight and become a subject of mystery and perhaps fascinating appeal. scarce that would be the message sent if alcohol commercials were banned from TV.