Standard Drinks Equivalence Alcohol and Health Underage Drinking Distilled Spirits Advertising Distilled Spirits Excise Taxes Product Tasting Fact Sheet

Advertising Does Not Cause An Individual To Consume Alcohol, Let Alone Abuse Alcohol.

• More than 100 million Americans who choose to drink, do so responsibly. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who do abuse alcohol; however, advertising restrictions are not the answer.
• As evidenced in numerous government statements and studies, advertising has not been shown to cause an individual to begin drinking or to abuse beverage alcohol. The conclusions of the government are mirrored in virtually every other study.
• Consequently, proposed advertising restrictions will not advance the government's interest in addressing alcohol abuse or illegal, underage drinking. These restrictions only would serve to prohibit an advertiser from displaying truthful, nonmisleading advertisements concerning legal products.

• Beverage alcohol advertising is already extensively regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and numerous state and local authorities.
• In fact, the Federal Trade Commission's 1999 report to Congress on beverage alcohol advertising concluded that industry self-regulation is working and is more effective than government regulation in ensuring that beverage alcohol advertising does not appeal to underage individuals. The report stated, "Self-regulation is a realistic, responsive and responsible approach to many of the issues raised by underage drinking. It can deal quickly and flexibly with a wide range of advertising issues and brings the accumulated experience and judgment of an industry to bear without the rigidity of government regulation. The Commission regards self-regulation as particularly suitable in this area, where government restriction - especially if it involves partial or total advertising bans - raises First Amendment issues."

• In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down as unconstitutional a federal government ban on television and radio advertisements of casino gambling. In Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Association, Inc. v. United States, the Supreme Court raised the burden of proof required to justify any speech restriction, underscoring that commercial speech is a critical component of our free market economy where consumer choice and competition are enhanced by more speech, not less. The Court stated, "the speaker and the audience, not the Government, should be left to assess the value of accurate and nonmisleading information about lawful conduct."
• In a 1996 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court also reaffirmed that the First Amendment protection afforded to beverage alcohol is equal in scope to the First Amendment protection afforded to the advertising of other legal products and services. In the landmark commercial speech decision, 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, the Supreme Court unanimously declared Rhode Island's ban on retail price advertising of beverage alcohol products unconstitutional. In the decision, Justice John Paul Steven wrote, "The First Amendment directs us to be especially skeptical of regulations that seek to keep people in the dark for what the government perceives to be their own good."
• The U. S. District Court for the Central District of California recently issued an Order halting enforcement of an ordinance restricting outdoor advertising that was passed by the City of Los Angeles. The Order, which remains in effect pending the resolution of the constitutional challenge to that ordinance, was based on the Court's concerns about free speech rights and the impact of the restrictions on the affected businesses.

• Restricting outdoor advertising will not reduce illegal, underage drinking. Drinking habits, rather, are influenced by parents and peers. In poll after poll, young people cite their parents and peers as their most influential factors in their decision to drink or not drink; advertising is consistently ranked at the bottom of the list.
• Strong parental guidance, positive peer pressure, education, comprehensive treatment and strict enforcement of the State's purchase age and drunk driving laws are the most effective means to combatting alcohol abuse and illegal, underage drinking.
• These approaches are solutions that have worked and continue to work. According to government statistics, alcohol abuse is declining. For example, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report that underage drinking is near its lowest level since 1974 when the data first were collected. In addition, U.S. Department of Transportation statistics report the number of teenage drivers involved in fatal drunk driving accidents has declined by 65 percent since 1982. Through its public education and social responsibility programs, the distilled spirits industry has been a part of this progress.

• For over six decades, distillers have had a voluntary Code of Good Practice that has been the keystone of the industry's advertising and marketing practices.
• The Code includes 30 provisions regarding the responsible placement and content of distilled spirits advertising and marketing. These provisions underlie the two fundamental principles of the Code: (1) to ensure responsible, tasteful and dignified advertising and marketing of distilled spirits to adult consumers who choose to drink, and (2) to avoid targeting advertising and marketing of distilled spirits to individuals below the purchase age.
• For example, the Code includes a provision prohibiting distilled spirits advertising placed on any outdoor stationary location within 500 feet of an established place of worship or an elementary or secondary school except on a licensed premise.
• Through these voluntary provisions, the distilled spirits industry holds itself to a higher standard than mandated by any law or regulation. This voluntary self-regulation, however, should not - and cannot - be used to justify a government restraint upon the right to speak about a lawful product.