FCC Is Asked to Order Ads Against Alcohol

WASHINGTON — Thirty years after federal regulators ordered broadcasters to air ads countering cigarette commercials, they were asked Wednesday to use the same strategy against advertising for beer, wine and liquor.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and 22 other groups filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the nation’s TV and radio stations.

The groups said the FCC should require stations that show ads for alcoholic beverages to provide a “significant amount” of free time for commercials warning of the health and safety risks of excessive drinking. The groups did not specify the amount of free time, but they said counter-ads should air close in time to the alcohol ads.

“This approach had a tremendous effect when it was applied to cigarette advertising in the late 1960s and should be considered here,” FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said.

The National Assn. of Broadcasters denounced the petition.

“There is absolutely no need for the FCC to consider counter-advertising,” said NAB President Eddie Fritts, adding that TV and radio stations routinely air antialcohol messages.

The beer industry also opposes the groups’ request, said Jeff Becker of the Beer Institute, which represents brewers and suppliers.

A federal law has forbidden TV and radio stations to air cigarette ads since 1971. Four years earlier, the FCC had required stations to air counter-ads to tobacco advertising.

TV and radio stations air about 2,000 beer and wine ads a year, worth about $750 million, the groups said.

But the groups are worried that alcohol ads will increase because of the liquor industry’s decision last year to abandon a decades-old voluntary TV and radio ad ban.