Campaigns

When NBC announced it would start airing hard liquor ads on TV, the AMA sprang into action.

Keeping Network TV Liquor-Free

The Challenge: In 2001, NBC became the first—and only—national network to break the 50-year voluntary ban on televising hard liquor ads when it aired an ad for Smirnoff vodka during “SNL.” Health groups concerned about the influence of liquor ads on children were not getting traction. The fear was that other networks would follow.

Our Approach: Fenton devised an advocacy campaign anchored by a full-page ad that ran in The New York Times with the headline: “A Message to Parents from the American Medical Association — Warning: Watching NBC May Be Hazardous to Your Children’s Health,” and appeal to the network, “Don’t trade our kids for cash.”  The ad drove people to an online activist portal we created, LiquorFreeTV.com, where they could send a protest email to the President of NBC, cc’d to the other major networks to hold the ban.

Progress, Accelerated: The campaign received coverage on CNN and in USA Today, New York Times, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and elsewhere. LiquorFreeTV received more than 180,000 hits and the maelstrom of attention led to Reps. Frank Wolf and Lucille Roybal-Allard calling for hearings to regulate alcohol advertising. The morning after ad ran, the President of NBC requested a meeting with the AMA. Less than a month later, bowing under negative press coverage, public pressure and the threat of Congressional hearings, NBC reversed its decision to air the ads. The ban still stands today.