Tell the NFL to Bench Hard-Liquor Ads

Urge the NFL to end its advertising deal with hard-liquor companies. These deals put profits ahead of our kids! For the first time hard-liquor ads now appear in a number of professional football stadiums and liquor-branded malt beverage commercials air during NFL telecasts. These ads, containing liquor brand-names, will most likely be seen by children and will further compromise the TV networks' voluntary ban on hard-liquor advertising. Urge NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to bench liquor ads!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Bench The Liquor Ads!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am disappointed that the NFL has sanctioned deals between the world's largest alcohol company, Diageo, and a number of NFL teams to advertise hard-liquor in NFL football stadiums and allow liquor-branded malt beverage commercials to be aired during NFL telecasts. These deals put profits ahead of kids.

An NFL/liquor-company sponsorship deal opens the door to a deluge of hard-liquor promotion during games our children watch. By making this deal, a team assists the liquor industry's efforts to reach millions of underage viewers. Airing ads for liquor-branded "alcopops" (the malt-based beverage with a liquor name and logo) during NFL telecasts trumpets liquor brands and enables liquor producers to sidestep the networks' voluntary bans on hard liquor ads. NFL games are watched by a significant number of underage fans every week.

It is bad enough that beer commercials steadily inundate millions of underage viewers during NFL games. Opening the door to a flood of new ads that entice teens to try liquor brands cannot help in our fight to deter underage drinking.

Alcohol is the number one drug used by teens. It is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24: (1) motor-vehicle crashes, (2) unintentional injuries, (3) homicide and (4) suicide; and underage drinking costs Americans $53 billion annually in health care, criminal justice, social services, property damage, and loss of productivity expenses.

I respectfully request that the NFL refuse ads for liquor-branded products during NFL telecasts and remove any liquor-branded signage from football stadiums. I look to the NFL to do what is best for the young people of this country.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
November 12, 2002

Background Information

Diageo, the world's largest producer of alcoholic-beverages (Smirnoff Vodka, Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, and Smirnoff Ice) announced unprecedented multi-million dollar, multi-year advertising contracts with a number of NFL teams. The deals allow the liquor company such things as space for liquor sign placement in the stadium, advertising space in the fan program, and product advertisements during football telecasts. At the same time the NFL has opened the door to TV ads of liquor-branded malt beverages or "alcopops," such as "Smirnoff Ice." These deals mix hard liquor promotion and professional football for the first time.

After dropping its 50-year voluntary ban on broadcast advertising in 1996, the liquor industry has greatly expanded its ad presence on TV. In December 2001, NBC accepted ads for hard-liquor. Bowing to a massive public outcry, the network soon restored its ban. Thereafter, Diageo announced a scheme to create an "unwired network" of cable and independent television outlets to air its liquor ads. The NFL team advertising deals represent part of that scheme.

Public health advocates say that the NFL and its teams should avoid advertising liquor in stadiums and advertising "alcopops" during commercial breaks, because these ads will likely be seen by children. A national survey commissioned by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and ESPN found that 80% of kids who watch sports on TV watch the NFL. Neilsen Media Research reported 19 % of the 2002 Superbowl TV audience and 11% of the viewership for the weekly telecast of ABC Monday Night Football are younger than the legal drinking age of 21.

Join CSPI in urging NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to bench liquor ads in professional football stadiums and to refuse advertising for hard-liquor products, including the growing number of liquor-branded malt beverage "alcopops."