NBC Lifts Liquor Ad Ban

NBC has dropped a decades-old ban on TV ads for hard liquor.

Randy Sharp, with the American Family Association, believes the ad is designed to glamorize drinking as a “responsible” activity.

“What they’re not going to show are the secondary effects of using their product,” Sharp said. “They’re not going to show the lights of the state trooper’s vehicle, or the ambulances, or the fire trucks. They’re not going to show the funerals.”

Millie Webb, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), would like to see strict and consistent guidelines set for all alcohol ads.

“Alcohol is the number one killer — it kills six-and-a-half times more of our young people than all the other illicit drugs combined,” Webb said. "That’s what we need to be thinking about."

She said repeated exposure to the ads increases acceptance of alcohol by young people.

TAKE ACTION:
Please contact NBC and let them know how you feel about the network airing ads for hard liquor. Ask them to again adhere to the previous policy on liquor ads. Write to NBC at:

Mr. Jeff Zucker
President, NBC Entertainment
NBC Entertainment
3000 West Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91523
Telephone: (818) 840-4444

Audience e-mails to NBC are generally not forwarded to corporate officials.