Beer Ads and College Football

The NCAA has recently decided that they won’t be pursuing the removal of beer ads from college sports programs.

Currently, NCAA regulations allow networks to broadcast commercials for beverages containing 6% or less of alcohol, which means that most beers make the cut and rarely are liquor or wine ads shown. Stadiums are allowed to advertise beer as well, although the sale of alcohol is not permitted during games and all advertisements must be covered during championship games.

University presidents and coaches, such as Bobby Bowden and Jim Tressel, have supported the banning of beer ads, and over 100 presidents and 200 athletic directors have written to the NCAA to encourage this ban. Not surprisingly, though, networks aren’t in favor, as beer advertisements pay well.

You can read more about this story at ESPN.

My position? College students and NCAA fans are going to drink during, before, and after games no matter if they advertise Budweiser or Pepsi. Advertisements for beer don’t, in my opinion, promote drinking in general – they promote their brand of beer over other brands of beer. So, really, removal of beer ads won’t make the consumer stop drinking – they’ll just make the consumer less informed about which type of alcohol to try.

I believe that a more effective way to combat college drinking would be to require networks to show one anti-drinking commercial for every beer commercial they show. I think that the Truth campaign, which aims at discouraging smoking, is highly effective, and I think a similar anti-alcohol campaign could, at the least, help college students think more responsibly about their consumption of alcohol.

What do you think – should beer ads be banned at NCAA stadiums and during NCAA broadcasts? Do current ads and commercials cause people to drink more? Leave a comment!