Battling the New Prohibition

USA - In response to inceasingly conservative organizations morphing their "don't drink and drive" messages into zero tolerance campaigns, American Beverage Licensees and the American Beverage Institute had D.C. agency Berman and Company create a commercial with a message of their own - that it's ok for adults (over 21, of course) to "Drink Responsibly. Drive Responsibly."

Read the New York Times article here. (Registration may be required.)

And of course, some people aren't too happy with the commercial. Read one such response from PacketOnline.

And as for the commercial itself, superadgrunts can now see it here.

So, what's YOUR opinion?

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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AnonymousCoward's picture

Back in the day, when tobacco ads were the backbone of advertising on TV, many thought that the industry and the medium would not stand the shock of withdrawal. They did, and they will again, as alcohol advertising is phased out. The handwriting is on the wall, it's only a matter of time, insert your cliche here. Wait until a drunk driver kills a legislator's child, and the "official spoonsor of boy's night out" will be as dead as "a thinking man's filter, a smoking man's taste".

tlevitz's picture

Interestingly, I recently read that in my state of Pennsylvania, highway fatalities are UP but alcohol related fatalities are DOWN.

I wouldn't say advertising has much at all to do with this. Heavy handed campaigns do little to encourage people to behave themselves; enforcement of traffic laws seems to be more effective.

Frankly, I'd rather see MADD turn their attention to teenagers driving responsibly - not just soberly. Locally, just last week, we had the sixth traffic fatality from the same small, rural high school this year. Alcohol hasn't been the problem, speed is.