Complaint report on alcohol ads released

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP ECONOMICS WRITER
MARCH 8, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Responding to growing concerns about underage drinking, an alcohol industry trade group said Monday it was making public for the first time the complaints it receives about its advertising practices.

The first report released by the Distilled Spirits Council discusses 15 complaints received last year, all of which involved print advertising. Most of the complaints came from other companies contending that their competitors' advertising practices violated the industry's voluntary guidelines.

Eight of the complaints involved accusations that the advertising of alcoholic beverages was being done in publications that had more than 30 percent youth readership in violation of the marketing code.

The other complaints involved the use of sexually suggestive photos and advertising copy that allegedly violated the trade group's voluntary prohibition against using "sexual prowess or sexual success as a selling point" for alcoholic beverages.

In all but four of the cases, the companies involved agreed to take corrective action such as halting the offensive advertising or moving the advertising to publications that met the requirement of a readership level that was composed of at least 70 percent adults.

Peter Cressey, president of the Washington-based Distilled Spirits Council, said his group planned to follow the initial report with updates every six months.

"The issuance of public reports will make the spirits industry's self-regulatory process more visible, transparent and understandable to the public," Cressey said. He said the industry hoped by publicizing the complaint process more members of the public would contact the industry's internal review board with potential violations.

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, based at Georgetown University, applauded the decision to make the complaint process public but said much more was needed to deal with the problem of underage drinking, especially in the area of television ads.

Jim O'Hara, executive director of the center, said the report should serve as a reminder "that the alcohol industry can do more to reduce underage youth exposure to alcohol advertising."

O'Hara said the center released a report last fall that found 90,000 more alcohol ads had been aired on television in 2003 than two years earlier with much of that growth spurred by a surge in distilled spirits ads on cable television.

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On the Net:

Distilled Spirits Council of the United States: http://www.discus.org

Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth: http://camy.org/