Alcohol Commercials

Alcohol In Commercials

Every day while watching tv I am amazed when a commercial comes on for alcohol.  Some are funny, some showing the suave man picking up the girl at the bar.  Either way these ads are being displayed across North America trying to sell alcohol.  Nowhere do you find commercials for cigarettes.  I choose cigarettes as both are regulated by our governments, both are known to cause disease, addiction and death.

We purchase products to help us quit smoking, we abide by laws that tell us we cannot smoke in public places or smoke in vehicles with children.  This is because second hand cigarette smoke is dangerous to our health.  We abide by laws that tell us not to drink alcohol and drive a vehicle, this is because it is dangerous.

Is there a difference in the danger of smoking and consuming alcohol.  I for one, don’t think there is.  I have seen it throughout my life. I’ve watched friends and family die from lung cancer.  I’ve watched friends and family die from complications due to alcoholism and from drunk driving accidents.

So why then are they allowed to put commercials to sell alcohol on tv and not cigarettes.

My point here is this.  I don’t think alcohol is any less dangerous to our welfare than cigarettes are.  Some may disagree, maybe you’re right.  Either way how can we watch tv programs like A&E’s Intervention about the way alcoholism affects lives and destroys them, only to watch a commercial for alcohol made to appear like it’s going to enhance our life.  It’s just plain wrong.

Here are some statistics.

• Over 22 million individuals have a substance dependence or abuse problem in the US. (SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) 2006
• Nearly 14 million Americans meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders. (Alcohol Health & Research World)
• More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke. (Substance Abuse: The Nation’s Number One Health Problem, Feb. 2001)
• There were over 17,000 alcohol related car deaths in US in 2005. (http://www.niaaa.nih.gov)
• Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for persons aged 6-33. About 45% of these fatalities are in alcohol-related crashes. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
• Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
• 61% of adults drink alcohol in the US. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm)
• Every year, tobacco use kills more Americans than World War II and the Vietnam War combined. Tobacco related illnesses kill 440,000 US citizens per year. (Centers for Disease Control. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults-United States, 2001. MMRW 2003; 52(40); 953-956.)
• Tobacco is the only product in the U.S. that causes death and disability when used as intended – the single, most preventable cause of death in the U.S. (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion)
• Many diseases are linked to tobacco and nicotine: Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, lung cancer, cancer of the kidney, cancer of the larynx and head and neck, breast cancer. (The Burden of Tobacco, Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry New Jersey, March 2005)
• There are over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke. (The Burden of Tobacco, Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry New Jersey, March 2005)
• The EPA ranks secondhand smoke in the same harmful category as asbestos, radon and benezene. It is also a major cause of children’s illness – yet 85% of adults who smoke and who live with a child do not ensure that the child is not exposed to the smoke from their cigarettes.
• Each year, nearly 35 million people make a concerted effort to quit smoking. Less than 7% succeed in abstaining for more than a year – most start smoking again within days. (The Search For A Safe Cigarette, NOVA (PBS), October 2001)
• 7% of over-the-counter nicotine patch and gum quitters quit for at least six months. (http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com)
• High intensity counseling of greater than 10 minutes can increase six month quitting rates to 22% when added to any quitting method. (http://surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/treating_tobacco_use.pdf)
• Bupropion (Zyban/Wellbutrin) use can generate quitting rates 13 percentage points above placebo rates at 6 months. (http://surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/treating_tobacco_use.pdf)
• Chantix use can generate quitting rates 26 percentage points above placebo rates at 3 months. (http://chantix.com)

So after reading those statistics they both are dangerous to our health, cause death and are dangerous to others.  So my question is this.  Why are alcohol commercials allowed on tv and not cigarette commercials.  I don’t want either on tv to be honest.  It just makes no sense to advertise something to the general public which has these kind of statistics and on the next channel find a show about the effects of alcoholism and how it’s destroying lives.

What do you think?  Alcohol commercials on tv acceptable? Don’t care? Never seen one?