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Big Liquor Disputes CAMY Ad Study

  • Brandweek, Thursday, December 21, 2006 11:30 AM
As Big Liquor pours more ad dollars into cable and spot TV, underage viewers' exposure to alcohol ads has exploded, according to a study conducted by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University.

Between 2001 and 2005, 1.4 million alcohol ads ran on TV at a cost of $4.7 billion, the group says. And the number of ads jumped 34% during the period, as spirits companies abandoned their self-imposed ban on TV. As a result, by last year, there were 23 times more TV ads for booze than in 2001.

Industry groups adopted a rule in 2003 that the maximum underage viewing audience cannot exceed 30%, but by this measuring stick, kids were overexposed to alcohol ads by a count of 93% on cable TV in 2005, according to the anti-alcohol group.

But according to Frank Coleman, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council, "that's crazy CAMY-math. We have rigid guidelines and public reports. If there were any ads placed on programs that had less than 70% of an adult audience, we would get complaints, and that brand's ad would be reported as having violated the guidelines."

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