Restrictions on alcohol advertising come primarily from Federal regulations, state regulations, alcohol industry organization standards, and/or national television network standards. At the Federal level, the Federal Alcohol Administration Acts gives most of the alcohol regulation of both labeling and advertising to the Department of Treasury's BATF. The Federal Trade Commission has more general authority for regulating misleading or deceptive commercial practices, which extends to alcohol advertising and marketing activities. There are three national trade associations that represent different producers and marketers of alcohol. The Beer Institute, the Wine Institute, and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States have separate advertising codes and standards for their members and are all self-regulated.4 All of these associations set codes to prevent alcohol advertisement from appealing to minors. Each state has the authority to regulate alcoholic beverage advertising; states usually administer alcohol advertising regulations through an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) state agency. There are many different codes, guidelines and regulations in each trade association but the codes I will focus on in the latter half of the paper are from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States: 1. "Beverage alcohol products should not be advertised or marketed in any manner directed or primarily appealing to persons below legal purchase age. " .
2. "Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing should be placed in broadcast, cable, radio, print and internet/digital communications only where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be of legal purchase age. " .
3. "Beverage alcohol advertising should not be placed on any outdoor stationary location within five hundred linear feet of an established place of worship, an elementary school or secondary school expect on a licensed premise.
