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Televising sin: efforts to restrict the televised advertisement of cigarettes and alcohol in the united states, 1950s to 1980s

2005; Routledge; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439680500263023

1465-3451

Pamela E. Pennock,

Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Pam Pennock is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. Her book about the politics of alcohol and cigarette advertising is forthcoming from Northern Illinois University Press. Notes Notes 1. Cal Thomas, Liquor Ads Don’t Belong On Television, The Columbus Dispatch, 19 December 2001; AMA Blasts NBC for Hard-Liquor Ads, The Columbus Dispatch, 19 December 2001; Joseph A. Califano, NBC is Developing a Drinking Problem, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 24 December 2001, B7. NBC was not the first broadcaster to air hard liquor ads, but it was the first of the major networks. Seagram's broke the voluntary ban in 1996, and some cable stations and local network affiliates aired hard liquor commercials in the late 1990s. 2. Michael Novak, Television shapes the soul, in Richard P. Adler (ed.) Understanding Television: Essays on Television as a Social and Cultural Force (New York, 1981), pp. 19–33. 3. John C. Burnham, Bad Habits: Drinking, Smoking, Taking Drugs, Gambling, Sexual Misbehavior, and Swearing in American History (New York, 1993), pp. 5–6, 86. Examples of scholarly studies that conceive of cigarettes and alcohol in the same framework are: Richard McGowan and J. F. Mahon, Collaborating with the enemy: tobacco, alcohol, and the public good, Business in the Contemporary World, 7(4) (1995), 69–92; Meredith Minkler, Lawrence Wallack & Patricia Madden, Alcohol and cigarette advertising in Ms. magazine, Journal of Public Health Policy 8 (Summer 1987), 164–179; Warren Breed & James DeFoe, Drinking and smoking on television, 1950–1982, Journal of Health Policy (June 1984). 4. Leo Bogart, The Age of Television: A Study of the Viewing Habits and the Impact of Television in America (3rd edn) (New York, 1972), pp. 98, 184; Gary Cross, An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America (New York, 2000), pp. 126–8; Lynn Spigel, Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America (Chicago, 1992), pp. 50–54; Martin Mayer, About Television (New York, 1972); Erik Barnouw, Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television (2nd rev. edn) (New York, 1990). 5. The US Supreme Court case Valentine v. Chrestensen, 316 US 52 (1942) ruled that unlike other forms of speech, commercial speech was not provided the full protection of the First Amendment. But a series of cases in the 1970s challenged the commercial speech doctrine and afforded more protection. See Ivan L. Preston, The Tangled Web They Weave: Truth, Falsity, and Advertisers (Madison, WI, 1994), pp. 138–9; C. Edwin Baker, Advertising and a Democratic Press (Princeton, NJ, 1994), Chapter 5. 6. James Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage: America's Reaction to the Juvenile Delinquent in the 1950s (New York, 1986). The drys themselves saw their concern over alcohol advertising as a subset of the mass society and youth anxieties. Temperance advocates appeared at congressional hearings on television and on juvenile delinquency to denounce alcohol advertising as a contributor to these larger problems. See US House, Investigation of Radio and Television Programs, 82d Cong., 2nd sess., 3–5, 26 June, 16–17, 23–26 September, 3–5 December 1952; and US Senate, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings on S. Res. 62, 84th Cong., 10–12 August 1955, pp. 69–76. 7. US Senate, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Liquor Advertising, 81st Cong., 2nd sess., 1950, pp. 53, 68, 341 (hereafter Senate hearings, 1950); US Senate, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Alcoholic Beverage Advertising, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., 1958, p. 21 (hereafter Senate hearing, 1958). Depiction of alcohol in broadcast programming was seldom discussed during the campaign and was never a focus of the policy debates at the congressional hearings. 8. John Crichton, The Liquor Business, Advertising Age, 30 November 1953, pp. 2, 44–57; Robert G. LaForge, Misplaced priorities: a history of federal alcohol regulation and public health policy, Dissertation, Johns Hopkins (1987), pp. 275–282. Senators Edwin Johnson and Warren Magnuson were outspoken in threatening the spirits industry with federal regulation if they failed to police their marketing effectively. 9. National Association of Broadcasters and Modern Brewery Age, Do's and Don’t's For Beer Advertising, in Here's How (brewers use radio advertising), National Archives, Record Group 46, 80th Congress, S. 265, Box 10, n.d.; Crichton, The Liquor Business; Wine Advisory Board advertisements, Seagram Collection, Hagley Library, Acc. 2173, Box 291. Lori Rotskoff, Love on the Rocks: Men, Women, and Alcohol in Post-World War II America (Chapel Hill, 2002), pp. 41, 194, 198–9l; Burnham, Bad Habits, pp. 82–83. 10. Lawrence Samuel, Brought To You By: Postwar Television Advertising and the American Dream (Austin, 2001), pp. 72, 112–3; Classic Commercials: The Early Years (Madacy Entertainment Group, Inc., 2002). 11. Lavish and lengthy petitions can be found in the National Archives’ Senate and House Commerce committee records for each bill on liquor advertising. The petitions were so abundant that they merit special mention in the Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives 1789–1989 (US Senate Bicentennial Publication, 1989), 75. 12. Senate hearing, 1950, p. 44; NARA, RG 46, Senate 85A-E10, S. 582 Box 227, Folder 10. 13. Senate hearing, 1950, p. 54, 110; US Senate, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Liquor Advertising Over Radio and Television, 82nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1952, pp. 54, 62 (hereafter Senate hearings, 1952); Senate hearing, 1958, p. 21. Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders (New York, 1957); Frederic Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (New York, 1953). 14. Melvin Kneeland to Senator Magnuson, 2 September 1958, Senate 85A-E10 S. 582 Box 227, Folder 10; Senate hearing, 1950, p. 68. 15. Senate hearing, 1958, p. 74; L. E. Catlin to Johnson, NARA, RG 46, Senate 81A-J1, Box 9; P. Bartholomew to Magnuson, 25 May 1958, NARA, RG 46, Senate 85A-E10, S.582, Box 227, Folder 10. 16. Senate hearing, 1950, p. 341; Senate hearings, 1952, 40; DuBois to Johnson, 6 January 1950, NARA, RG 46, Senate 81A-J11, Box 12. Newton N. Minow & Craig L. LaMay, Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, and the First Amendment (New York, 1995), chapter one; Richard Adler, ‘TV advertising—the subtle sell,’ in Adler (ed.) Understanding Television, pp. 272–273. 17. Senate hearing, 1948, pp. 131–132, 179; Senate hearing, 1950, pp. 185, 310, 313; Senate hearing, 1952, p. 117. 18. Johnson, Democrat from Colorado, was a political maverick who had made a name for himself on the national scene when he called for an investigation of immorality in Hollywood films. See Ed Johnson's Record Unique, Denver Post, 31 May 1970, 36:1; Sen Johnson Wants Publishers Out of Radio, TV Business, Advertising Age, 3 May 1954, p. 149. 19. Schenley May Use Radio, Television, New York Times, 28 July 1949, p. 25:2. Later in the 1950s, other distilling firms would periodically send out feelers about broadcast advertising. In isolated cases, liquor advertisements were broadcast, but none lasted long. See Airing of Liquor Ads Sparks NAB Conflict, Advertising Age, 20 October 1958, p. 2; Crack in the Dike on Liquor Ads, Broadcasting, 20 October 1958, pp. 31–33. 20. Senate hearing, 1952, pp. 18–26, 117–123, 127–131; Washington: Radio-TV Liquor Advertising Ban Dies in Committee, Editor and Publisher, 29 March 1952, p. 8. 21. US House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages, Report No. 2670, 83rd Cong. Further evidence of legislators’ concern with broadcast alcohol advertising in 1954 was the introduction of legislation to prohibit radio and television alcohol ads from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. See Congressional Record, 1 July 1954, p. 9511. 22. Fight Ban on Beer, Wine Commercials, NARTB Head Urges, Advertising Age, 12 September 1954. 23. ‘Beer, Wine Ads on TV Scored in House Report,’ New York Times, 18 August 1954, p. 26:1; NARTB Moves to Cut Out Drinking on TV Commercials, Advertising Age, 11 October 1954, p. 36; Joseph Dubin, As We See It: An Important Step Forward, Modern Brewery Age, May 1955, p. 21; Robert Alden, Advertising: Liquor Taboo on TV Widened, New York Times, 10 October 1960, p. 50:3. 24. Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris (New York, 1996), pp. 263–297. The classic treatment of this subject is A. Lee Fritschler, Smoking and Politics: Policymaking and the Federal Bureaucracy (New York, 1969). 25. See letters to Magnuson in the Senate Commerce Committee records, NARA, 89th Cong., Pertschuk File, S. 559, Box 2, folder 559; Magnuson to Meyner, 17 September 1965 and 30 December 1965, NARA, RG 46, 89th Cong., S. 559, Box 9; Cigaret Ads Still Run on Kids’ TV, Magnuson Warns, Advertising Age, 27 September 1965, pp. 1, 123. 26. Meyner to Magnuson, 23 September 1965, NARA, RG 46, 89th Cong., S. 559, Box 9; Young TV Viewers Are Big Problem in Formulating Cigaret Code: Meyner, Advertising Age, 22 November 1965, p. 3; Sam Blum, An Ode to the Cigarette Code, Harper's, March 1966, pp. 60–63. 27. Kennedy to Goldenson, 28 November 1967, Robert F. Kennedy Senate Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (hereafter RFK Papers), Legislative Subject File, Box 15, Folder 11/1967. 28. Congressional Record, 1968, p. 2969; Federal Trade Commission, Report to Congress Pursuant to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, 30 June 1967, Concurring Statement of Commissioner Elman. Federal Trade Commission, Report to Congress, Pursuant to the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, 30 June 1968. 29. Kennedy to sports teams and commissioners, 16 November 1967, RFK Papers, Box 15, Folder 11/67. Telegram from Kennedy to cigarette companies and broadcast networks, 16 November 1967, and Goodman to Kennedy, 17 November 1967, both in Box 15, Folder 11/67. Tobacco Men Ponder TV Use, Advertising Age, 25 December 1967, p. 1; Kennedy Draws Diverse Replies on Cigaret Ad Ban Plan, Advertising Age, 11 December 1967, p. 115; Tobacco Men's Letters Don’t Satisfy Senators, Advertising Age, 12 February 1968, p. 1. One of Kennedy's bills would empower the FCC to prohibit the broadcast of cigarette ads before 9 p.m. See Congressional Record, 1967, pp. 25126–25129. 30. Cigaret Ads May Be Forced Off Air, Anello Says, Advertising Age, 6 March 1967, p. 1; Bell to Sweeny, 20 April 1967, RFK Papers, Legislative Subject File, Box 14, Folder 9/8/67. 31. Federal Communications Commission, Applicability of the Fairness Doctrine to Cigarette Advertising, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 8 September 1967, Federal Register, 1967, pp. 13162–13174; The Evolving Doctrine of Fairness, Broadcasting, 12 June 1967. 32. Congressional Record, 1967, pp. A4915, 15108, 17927. 33. For descriptions of these Public Service Announcements, see Kluger, pp. 309–10. Speculation linking the PSAs to the drop in smoking during the second half of the 1960s has been common. For examples, see Congressional Record, 1968, pp. 19501–19502; ‘Caution: This Hearing is Hazardous,’ Newsweek, 28 April 1969, pp. 82–83; Michael Schudson, ‘Symbols and smokers: advertising, health messages, and public policy,’ in Robert L. Rabin & Stephen D. Sugarman (eds) Smoking Policy: Law, Politics, and Culture (New York, 1993), p. 222; Gideon Doron, The Smoking Paradox: Public Regulation in the Cigarette Industry (Cambridge, 1979), p. 86. 34. Regulating Television, New Republic, 13 July 1968, pp. 8–9, reported a ‘shift in temper’ in the anti-smoking movement to a ‘serious consideration’ of a broadcast cigarette advertising ban. 35. Federal Communications Commission, Advertisement of Cigarettes, Notice of Proposed Rule Making, 5 Feburary 1969, FCC Docket No. 18434, Federal Register, 1969, p. 1959; ‘Showdown in Marlboro Country,’ Consumer Reports, September 1969, pp. 516–521; Elizabeth B. Drew, ‘The Cigarette Companies Would Rather Fight Than Switch,’ New York Times Magazine, 4 May 1969, pp. 36–7, 129–33; Thomas Whiteside, Selling Death: Cigarette Advertising and Public Health (New York, 1971), pp. 92–96; Michael Pertschuk, Giant Killers (New York, 1987), pp. 38–39; Kluger, p. 333. 36. Capital Broadcasting v. United States 333 F. Supp. 582, 1971 US Dist. 37. Larry C. White, Merchants of Death: The American Tobacco Industry (New York: Beech Tree Books, 1988), p. 148; Maurine Christopher, Is Cigaret Companies’ Success Without TV Giving Others Ideas?, Advertising Age, 10 May 1971, p. 91. 38. For use and explanation of the term ‘new temperance’, see D. B. Heath, The new temperance movement: through the looking glass, in Edith S. Lisansky Gomberg (ed.) Current Issues in Alcohol/Drug Studies (New York, Haworth Press, 1989), pp. 144–152; Joseph R. Gusfield, Contested Meanings: The Construction of Alcohol Problems (Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), pp. 281–282; Mark Edward Lender & James Kirby Martin, Drinking in America: A History (New York: Free Press, 1987), chapter 5; Rebecca Murphy Marton, ‘The Role of Government and the Non-Profit Sector in the New Temperance Movement,‘ http://sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu/~phjuerg/newtemp.html> 39. Federal Trade Commission, Hearings on Modern Advertising Practices, 1971; and US Senate, Committee on Congress, Subcommittee on Communications, Surgeon General's Report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, 92nd Cong., 2nd sess., March 1972. Major studies of alcohol advertising include: Charles Atkin & Martin Block, Content and Effects of Alcohol Advertising (Springfield, VA, 1981); W. Breed, J. De Foe & Lawrence Wallack, ‘Drinking in the mass media: a nine-year project,’ Journal of Drug Issues, 14 (1984), 655–664; P. Kohn & R. Smart, ’The impact of television advertising on alcohol consumption: an experiment,‘ Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 45 (1984), 295–301; Donald Strickland & David Pittman, The Effects of Alcohol Beverage Advertising Practices and Messages on Alcohol Problems and Alcoholism in the United States: A Preliminary Report (St. Louis, 1980). 40. US Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics, Media Images of Alcohol: The Effects of Advertising and Other Media on Alcohol Abuse, 94th Cong., 2nd sess., 1976, pp. 56, 197–202 (hereafter Senate hearing, 1976); US House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection, and Finance, Beer and Wine Advertising: Impact of Electronic Media, 99th Cong., 1st sess., 1985, p. 52 (Hereafter House hearing, 1985.) 41. Center for Science in the Public Interest, News Release, 25 June 1984, from Center for Science in the Public Interest archives; House hearings, 1985; US Senate, Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Subcommittee on Children, Family, Drugs and Alcoholism, Reviewing Advertisements and Television Commercials Promoting the Sale and Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages, 99th Cong., 1st sess., 1985 (Hereafter Senate hearing, 1985.) 42. Senate hearing, 1985, 335; House hearing, 1985, p. 8. 43. House hearing, 1985, p. 519. 44. Senate hearing, 1976, pp. 2, 20, 150. 45. Senate hearing, pp. 20–26. 46. Iain Ramsay, Advertising, Culture, and the Law: Beyond Lies, Ignorance, and Manipulation (London, 1996), p. 112; also see Gilbert, A Cycle of Outrage. 47. Bogart, The Age of Television, pp. 98–101, 184; Spigel, Make Room for TV, pp. 50–51; Cross, An All-Consuming Century, pp. 107, 109, 126–128. 48. Tom Englehardt, Children's television: the shortcake strategy, in Todd Gitlin (ed.) Watching Television: A Pantheon Guide to Popular Culture (New York, 1986), p. 110; Ellen Seiter, Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture (New Brunswick, NJ, 1993), p. 38.