Seagram Plans More TV Ads for Whiskey
In further defiance of a voluntary ban on TV commercials pitching distilled spirits, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons plans to air spots for two whiskey brands on a small number of independent stations around the country.
In doing so, Seagram is disregarding a request from the White House, which in June called upon the industry to uphold the 48-year-old ban so that children and teenagers are not be exposed to liquor commercials. Though he did not mention Seagram by name, President Clinton was responding to a commercial for Seagram’s Crown Royal whiskey that had been airing in Texas.
In its latest move, Seagram is expanding its commercial lineup to include a spot for Chivas Regal whiskey, a brand that has been losing sales. Commercials for Chivas Regal and Crown Royal will appear on stations in suburban Boston and Houston markets, and possibly on stations in Chicago, Milwaukee and the San Francisco Bay Area. Seagram’s plans were reported Monday in the trade publication Advertising Age.
Seagram, whose parent company Seagram Co. of Canada controls the MCA movie and television studio, isn’t the first distilled spirits company to break the decades-old ban. Domecq Importers has aired spots over the years for Presidente Brandy on Spanish-language television, but those commercials have not generated as much controversy as the Seagram ads.
On Monday, consumer activists vowed to continue their fight against liquor ads on TV.
“We are disappointed but not surprised,” said George Hacker, an alcohol policy specialist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We are going to explore every avenue to make it as difficult as possible for them to extend their campaign.”
One avenue that appears closed for now is Congress. In June, Rep. Joseph Kennedy II (D-Mass.) proposed a ban on radio and TV advertising for distilled spirits, but that measure became stalled.
Activists aren’t optimistic about further pressure from the Clinton administration, whose efforts Hacker characterized as “ineffectual” and “mild.” Clinton’s rebuke, which came in a radio address, was viewed as an attempt to score political points with parents rather than an attack on liquor advertising on television.
Although no other distilled spirits company has aired English-language commercials, sentiment toward lifting the ban is growing within the industry. An increasing number of liquor company executives believe the ban puts them at a disadvantage in competing with beer marketers, which advertise heavily on TV.
Representatives of Brown-Forman Corp., which markets Jack Daniels, and IDV North America, whose holdings include Paddington Corp., Carillon Importers and Heublein Inc., said they are disposed toward ending the ban.
“We favor a level playing field,” IDV spokesman Jack Shea said.
Through its trade group, spirits firms have discussed allowing TV advertising with restrictions on when they air.
In Houston, Seagram spots are scheduled to air on KNWS-TV after 9 p.m. so that children are less likely to see them. KNWS-TV general sales manager Rod Rodriguez said that commercials would air earlier only if the show is clearly intended for adults. He said one exception could be a cooking show that uses the liquor in a recipe.
“I don’t see a problem with it, as long as it is done tactfully,” Rodriguez said of liquor advertising. “There are a lot worse things than alcohol ads on TV.”
Spots are also running after 9 p.m. on WNDS-TV in Derry, N.H., in the Boston media area.
Seagram declined to discuss its plans, except to say that its approach is “responsible.”
A Seagram representative said that response to the ad that appeared in Corpus Christi was mild. The firm received 100 consumer calls expressing mixed opinions.
Seagram has been slowly chipping away at the voluntary ban since March, when it aired a commercial for Crown Royal during coverage of a little-watched equestrian event on cable TV. In June, it aired the same spot on an NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi.
