Children and teens already view far too many commercial messages in the broadcast media that glamorize and encourage drinking. Young people view approximately 20,000 commercials each year, of which nearly 2,000 are for beer and wine.¹ For every "just say no" or know when to say when" public service announcement, teens will view 25 to 50 beer and wine commercials.²
 

In 2000, brewers spent more than $770 million on television ads and $15 million on radio ads.³  Since dropping its own TV ad ban in 1996, liquor-industry expenditures on broadcast commercials (primarily on cable TV) have skyrocketed from $3.5 million to more than $25 million in 2000.⁴ An expanded onslaught of alcohol ads on network TV would only increase the pressure on young people to drink.

Children’s awareness of alcohol directly translates into stronger intentions to drink as an adult. As early as 1994, studies found that alcohol advertising may predispose young people to drink.⁵
 

The booze industry commonly contends that ads have nothing to do with consumption or harm. In a September, 1999 report to Congress on promoting alcohol to underage consumers, the FTC found that measuring the effects of alcohol advertising on overall consumption faces significant methodological challenges.⁶ However, the FTC found that the inconclusive nature of the studies "does not rule out the existence of a clinically important effect of advertising on youth drinking decisions."
 

Even as the Supreme Court overturned Massachusetts’ ban on billboard advertising for tobacco products⁷, it upheld its long-standing acknowledgment that product advertising stimulates demand for products and suppressing advertising may have the opposite effect. Are we to believe that billboard advertising for cigars and smokeless tobacco lure kids, yet sexy, funny, romantic, or goofy television ads for beer don’t? Only the tobacco and alcoholic-beverage industries dare suggest that advertising has such modest intentions or effects.

Young people ages 12-17 spend significantly more time watching television during "prime time" hours than any other time of the day.  On average each week young people watch 5:59 hours of prime time television (Monday-Saturday from 8:00-11:00 P.M. and Sunday from 7:00-11:00 P.M.)⁸

32% of children ages 2 to 7 and 65% of children ages 8 to18 have a TV in the bedroom.¹⁰
 

49% of children live in homes where there are no set rules about TV watching.¹¹

On average, young people begin drinking at 13.1 years of age. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, those who begin by age 15 are four times as likely to become alcohol dependent than those who wait until age 21.¹²
 

Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24: motor-vehicle crashes, unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide.¹³
 

Drunk driving crash deaths are beginning to rise among teens.¹⁴
 

Underage drinking costs Americans nearly $53 billion annually.¹⁵

Under NBC’s "responsibility" guidelines, millions of underage persons will be exposed to commercials for hard liquor, as they have been exposed for decades to appealing, funny, and seductive spots for beer. Advertising trade professionals have declared that the "85% adult" standard is virtually meaningless, since nearly every NBC show would qualify (72% of the U.S. population is 21 or over).¹⁶ Even the industry-sponsored and branded "responsibility" messages required by the NBC guidelines represent just another thinly veiled form of product promotion.