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AAP News Vol. 13 No. 7 July 1997, p. 7 © 1997 American Academy of Pediatrics
The Academy has asked the federal government to hold public hearings on alcohol advertising and to require broadcasters to provide free air time for public health messages about alcohol use. "While we will be working with other professionals and concerned parents to persuade the media to eliminate or substantially modify the current glamorous portrayal of alcohol use, more is needed," AAP President Robert Hannemann, M.D., said in a May 8 letter to President Clinton and the four Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioners. "An FCC public hearing on alcohol advertising would be a major step in the right direction." Last fall, the hard liquor industry broke a 50-year voluntary ban on broadcast advertising. National television networks have refused to air the ads, but some local affiliates and cable networks, such as Black Entertainment Television, have chosen to run them.
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