Contact: Natalie Bell, Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000, ext. 126
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- The flagship television station for NBC, WNBC-TV in New York, is running liquor advertisements after almost six years since the network experimented with such commercials and abandoned the idea because of widespread outrage that "hard liquor" would be promoted through a medium that is highly influential on children and to teenagers' decision-making. Currently, the four major television networks have policies that prohibit carrying such advertisements, but they are prevalent on the cable networks, including CNN and ESPN.
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, said, "With so-called hard liquor more popular with young people -- especially young women -- the decision to promote distilled spirits through a medium that is known to influence young people will have disastrous results. We are seeing more and more young women make life-threatening choices when under the influence of alcohol."
Crouse continued, "Those promoting this change justify it by saying that the ads will only run after 11 p.m. and will stress drinking responsibly, but we all know that teens love to watch the sporting events and late-night comedy shows where the ads will appear. We cannot say that we care about our nation's children and then turn around and make marketing decisions that put them at risk."
Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.