HOW LIQUOR ADVERTISEMENTS FALSIFY THE FACTS

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 4, 1 May 1950, Page 7

HOW LIQUOR ADVERTISEMENTS FALSIFY THE FACTS

By JOHN C. ALMACK (Professor of Education, Stanfcrth University)

DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT!

No advertising is so false, and deceptive as that put out by the liquor trade —so much so, indeed, that the State of Oregon undertook to ban certain kinds of liquor advertising. Fir*t, all advertising that claimed liquor to he a food or a remedy for any disease or malady. Second, any liquor advertising containing a recipe or formula for using the liquor adverused. Third, any advertisement, connecting liquor with a seal, coat of arms, crest, award, medal, prize or picture of a woman, child, or of a family scene. Fourth, any advertising associating liquor with a religious sign, symbol, holiday, festival or observance. Fifth, all advertising associating liquor w'ith comic strips, pets, athletes or athletic events. And thus it goes on! A law like this is (lesigned to make liquor advertisements cease deceiving people by falsifying values, or by associating liquor with things and people which are approved. Some of the following forms of propaganda for liquor are probably contrary to that Oregon law. “The Gold Medal Whisky.” “ Gentle as a lamb." Or “Good for your health.” But some of the beer advertising is even more astonishing in its claims. A radio announcer dech.r* d: “ Beer is not intoxicating.” A hoarding advertised: “Beer is a tonic for the weak and the aged." One brewing firm advised people to buy beer, because “ the money for beer goes for public welfare and education.” It did not say that tin buyers pay in several times as much as the public gets back. These beer advertisers have beer, eager to get their product on the table and into the food of every American home. “ Beer was once known as an important ingredient in cooking," was the claim made by one company preceding the reading of beer recipes over the radio. The recipes did not

sound appetising, but they were intended to convey the notion that beer is food. It would take a strange taste to be pleased by “ Chocolate beer cake,” Beer Bread and the like. Another form of advertising is that which plays upon love of home and parents, to induce young people to drink. S<«me time ago, there appeared a picture of a smiling lad, who was writing a Father’* Day greeting, the import of the message being that he was proud of his father because he knew how to “drink whisky wisely and moderately.” I)o you believe that “beer served with a mother’s approval and understanding,” becomes an asset in gatherings of young people? If so, you can he imposed upon by liquor propaganda. Hypocrisy of this sort is carried further, if this is possible, in advertising which said: “We don’t want to sell whisky to anyone who buys it at the sacrifice of the necessities of life. Fine whisky can play a part in the scheme of gracious living—but only when taken in moderation, and after the bills are paid." Have you ever heard of a liquor dealer, refusing to sell his goods to anyone, until he knew that the man’s debts were paid? Do you note how the word “ fine ” is associated with w’hisky? Do you see how whisky is .associated with something we prize—the concept of “gracious living" ? Yet no whisky can truly be called “fine." nor is “gracious living." even remotely connected with any kind of alc< holic beverage. It is all false advertising. The object of all liquor advertising —over the radio, on the hoardings and in newspapers and magazines—is to create a favourable attitude towards beer, wine, whisky and all other forms of alcoholic drinks. It is a form of propaganda meant to deceive. It does not square with the facts. The best advice in respect to all liquor advertising today is this: “Don’t vou believe it !” Signs of the Times 1047.