st require that ads for alcohol contain public service announcements warning of the dangers of excessive drinking. The petition also asked the FTC to require that newspaper and magazine ads for alcohol contain health warnings. The petition also asked for an end to beer company sponsorship of rock music concerts and campus beer tasting parties. There is concern that commercials for beer and wine constitute a "one-sided barrage of information" and will influence children (Leepson, 1985). It should be noted that the Leepson article is not part of a movement to ban alcohol advertisements, rather the article is a balanced account of the issue. Leepson also presented the industry response to its critics. The response of the alcohol industry is that advertising does not stimulate demand. Instead, advertising influences people to drink one brand instead of another. Thus, a critique of the Leepson article would have to include that this is basically a well-balanced article which presents an overview of the situation (Leepson, 1985).
An unknown Newsweek writer (no credit is given for the short box article) takes a distinctly anti-alcohol stand in pointing out that 22,300 Americans die of drunken driving every year. As a result of a particular incident in which a young woman was run over and killed by her beer-intoxicated friend, the chairman of the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Commission is quoted as saying, "The time had come to end the foolishness." (Anonymous, 1984).
Basically, this, was done by Massachusetts becoming the first state in the nation to ban all drink-promotion gimmicks in bars and restaurants. Even the bar owners went along with the ban saying that it was too costly to have cut-rate drinks for happy hours. The restaurant owners claimed the promotions were only a way to keep up with the competition. Even many of the bar drinkers did not mind paying more for a drink if it would save a life, possibly their own...