What are alcohol advertising restrictions and how do they work?

Restrictions on alcohol advertising include any policies that limit advertising of alcoholic beverages, particularly advertising that exposes young people to alcohol messages. Restrictions can be in the form of a local ordinance or state law, or can be implemented voluntarily by a business, event or organization and can include:

• Banning ads on buses, trains, kiosks, billboards and supermarket carts, and in bus shelters, schools, and theme parks.
• Banning or limiting advertising and sponsorship at community events such as festivals, parties, rodeos, concerts, and sporting events. (1)
• Banning advertising in areas surrounding schools, residential areas, faith organizations, etc. (2)
• Restricting or banning TV and/or radio alcohol commercials. (1)
• Restricting alcohol advertising in newspapers and/or on the Internet.
• Countering alcohol ads with public service announcements. (1)
• Restricting the size and placement of window advertisements in liquor and convenience stores. (2)
• Requiring all alcohol ads in the local media to include warnings about the health risks of alcohol consumption. (1)
• Setting a maximum for the percentage of total advertising space that alcohol ads can cover.
• Reducing the disproportionately high number of alcohol billboards in low-income neighborhoods. (3)
• Prohibit images and statements that portray or encourage intoxication. (2)
• Enforcing existing restrictions on alcohol advertising.

Why alcohol advertising restrictions are important for your community

• Alcohol advertisements often portray alcohol as enhancing economic success, fun, attractiveness to the opposite sex, athletic skill, and social popularity. (1, 2) Such messages are misleading to and fail to mention the risks associated with alcohol use. Alcohol ad restrictions reduce the exposure to alcohol ads promoting unrealistic messages about alcohol use.
• Parents can to some extent control their children's exposure to alcohol ads within their home but a large amount of advertising occurs in public spaces. Restrictions on alcohol advertising in public areas allows communities to have some control over young people's exposure to alcohol messages outside the home.
• Communities that restrict alcohol advertisers send a message to young people that underage alcohol use is not tolerated by the community. Restricting alcohol advertising in public places may help change community norms regarding alcohol use.
  

Considerations for passing this ordinance in your community

ISSUE: The alcohol industry may bring lawsuits in response to ad bans or restrictions, arguing that the restrictions violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
RESPONSE: To overcome this constitutional barrier, communities must show that the potential harm to the public's health or welfare from alcohol is real enough to justify the content regulation of speech. This can be a heavy burden, but courts have recognized that alcohol, although legal, is a legitimate subject of this type of speech regulation. (4) In addition, several research studies have shown that restrictions on alcohol advertising are associated with a decrease in consumption and drunk driving.(5, 6)

ISSUE: Community members may not care about the level of alcohol advertising in their community.
RESPONSE: A national survey of adults showed that 63% favored a total ban on alcohol billboards, and 66% supported a total ban on liquor advertising on TV. (7) In addition, in 2002, NBC reversed its decision to end its 50-year voluntary ban on liquor ads on TV due to public and political opposition.(8)

Note : Community members are urged to consult with a local attorney to take into account state law requirements before attempting to pass a local ordinance.

How alcohol advertising restrictions fit into the larger context

Passing ordinances that ban or restrict alcohol advertising may help reduce exposure to alcohol advertising, but these policies alone are not enough to reduce a community's drinking problems. Other alcohol control policies are also needed, such as:

• Compliance checks that help ensure that employees of alcohol establishments refuse to sell to underage youth. (see compliance checks summary)
• Keg registration policies that identify and penalize adults and youth who purchase kegs for parties and allow underage youth to consume the alcohol. (see beer keg registration summary).
• Alcohol restrictions in public places that control the use of alcohol in parks, beaches, and other unsupervised places where teens may drink alcohol. (See alcohol restrictions on public property summary).

What other communities have done

In 1998, Oakland, California adopted a strict ordinance prohibiting alcohol ads on billboards in residential areas and near schools. The ordinance also banned alcohol advertising within three blocks of recreation centers, churches, and licensed day care facilities. According to an attorney for one of the billboard firms that challenged the ordinance, the measure left only 70 of the city's 1,450 billboards available for such ads. On December 7, 2000, a federal district court determined that the ordinance was a reasonable fit with the goal of decreasing youth demand for alcoholic beverages and that the ordinance was therefore constitutional. (9)

References

1. Sharp, W. Mad at the ads: A citizen's guide to challenging alcohol advertising practices. Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest. October, 1992.
2. Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth. State alcohol advertising laws: Current statutes and model policies. Georgetown University: Washington D.C. April 10. 2003.
3. Hackbarth DP, Silvestri B, Casper W. Tobacco and alcohol billboards in 50 Chicago neighborhoods: Market segmentation to sell dangerous products to the poor. Journal of Public Health Policy, 16(2):213-30, 1995.
4. Marin Institute for Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. Can they ban these boards? Newsletter No. 12, Winter 1997.
5. Tremblay VJ, Okuyama K. Advertising restrictions, competition, and alcohol consumption. Contemporary Economic Policy, 19(3):313-21, 2001.
6. Stout EM, Sloan FA, Liang L, Davies HH. Reducing harmful alcohol-related behaviors: Effective regulatory methods. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61(3):402-12, 2000.
7. Wagenaar AC, Harwood EM, Toomey TL, Denk CE, Zander KM. Public opinion on alcohol policies in the United States: Results from a national survey. Journal of Public Health Policy, 21(3):303-27, 2000.
8. de Moraes, L. NBC Puts Hard-Liquor Commercials on Ice. Washington Post, March 21, 2002.
9. Scenic America. Alcohol billboards: Assistance for communities in adopting ordinances. Accessed online on 9/9/02 at: www.scenic.org/billboardsign/alcohol.htm
   

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