Why do we have alcohol advertisements. We don't allow cigarettes to advertise
2026-04-25 18:44 UTC
Replies (40)
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@disregardable@lemmy.zip 2026-04-25 20:00
It took decades of fighting to get smoking banned, and if everyone and their uncle didn't have a parent dying of lung cancer, it probably wouldn't have happened.
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@TheLugal@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 05:24
_We_ don't, alcohol adverts are just as illegal as tobacco. Of course; that might not be the case everywhere on the planet :P
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@rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2026-04-25 18:54
bribes
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@Allero@lemmy.today 2026-04-27 08:48
In Russia, alcohol ads are banned. So, beer ads take all the air, rolling their usual, and adding a small fast "nonalcoholic" at the end for their obscure nonalcolohic version no one cares about. So, effectively, advertising your beer is legal as long as you have a nonalcoholic version.
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@HubertManne@piefed.social 2026-04-25 20:59
basically alcohol gets a pass because its a drug that has been in use since the stone age. Im a big "victimless" crimes person and I would like to see much legalized but I would like them all put into a category where its allowed at home or at licensed establishments and advertising is limited to private residences or at businesses that are in the category. I would restrict the signage for the businesses to. So the brothel, race track, casino, dispensiary, liquor store would look rather non descript from the outside but all would have controlled entry to only allow adults and inside it would likely be filled with ads for other establishments.
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@SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-26 13:10
who tf is we?
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@DahGangalang@infosec.pub 2026-04-25 19:07
Bit of a shot in the dark, but seems like cigarette companies have lied in front of congress / courts saying cigarettes are healthy / not bad for you and have been caught red handed in their lies. Big alcohol hasn't ever done anything that egregious. Everyone knows its not exactly healthy to drink, and Big Alcohol doesn't seem to have ever argued that. I know there's the occasional "a glass of red wine is good for your heart" stuff, but they're also not making any attempt to deny a gallon of wine per day will probably cause cirrhosis, ya know?
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@Aeao@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 20:39
 The proof that there is only Texas as promised. (For those that didn’t see the comments about assuming everyone is American. This explains the Texas education system. Btw no one in Texas calls it “the gulf of America “ we thinks that’s stupid to.
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@John_CalebBradberton@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 16:17
I spend a lot of time in Ireland and tbh I can't remember the last time I saw an ad for regular alcoholic drinks like beers and whiskeys.. However a lot of these companies skirt around rules, at least here at the moment, by making ads about non alcoholic versions instead. So you see a lot of Guinness 0.0 and Heineken 0.0 etc. Tbh even that should banned at this stage too. What's worse though is gambling advertising. I fucking hate that shit so much. Its popularity preys on desperate people and further drives the K shaped economy we are seeing nowadays. Its so fucked up.
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@bridgeburner@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 14:10
r/USdefaultism is what I'd say if this were reddit lol
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@gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-04-26 12:03
all advertisement is bad. best to avoid all of it. use the fediverse, don't use commercial internet platforms.
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@MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 02:16
You know when you see an advertisement for a casino, and they have a picture of a guy winning money? That's false advertising, because that happens the least. That's like if you're advertising a hamburger, they could show a guy choking. "This is what happened once." Mitch Hedberg
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@Dasus@lemmy.world 2026-04-28 00:43
I don't even see ads for drinking online, that's how banned they are in my country.
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@schwim@piefed.zip 2026-04-25 22:33
They have better ~~bribers~~ lobbyists
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@HuudaHarkiten@piefed.social 2026-04-25 19:37
Well, there are places where it is illegal. EU for example. But of course they get around that by advertising their "0.0%" beers etc.
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@PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social 2026-04-26 05:01
Advertising is weaponized pollution. All of it. In any shape or form. It is littering and spreading garbage for profit. Bill Hicks had an excellent suggestion for those in that industry.
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@over_clox@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 20:46
Similarly, why are they allowed to advertise every fancy new and half untested medicine out there? Like, take such and such drug to eliminate pimples, but possible side effects are hair loss, heart attack, brain bleeding, rectal leakage, miscarriage, loss of fingernails and toenails, blah blah...
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@IWW4@lemmy.zip 2026-04-25 19:50
One thing you see in the alcohol adds, no one ever actually drinks on screen.
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@Griffus@lemmy.zip 2026-04-26 16:59
It is always so weird traveling outside of Norway and see commercials for alcohol.
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@HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2026-04-25 21:19
A few reasons. First, the alcohol industry has been a lot more sensitive to being perceived as selling to kids than the tobacco industry was. Because of it, there was never the push to ban advertising and conduct a mass media effort to control teen drinking as there was teen smoking. Second, people still remember prohibition in the USA and how it was a failure. So, you've got a lot of people worried about a slippery slope in comparison to tobacco. Third, the alcohol industry is far better at lobbying around specific items that would actually prevent consumption. For instance, alcoholic beverages don't need to show nutritional information. It will bend in a way that keeps access open.
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@pirate2377@lemmy.zip 2026-04-26 21:53
Cigarette companies themselves actually lobbied for cigarette commercials to be banned. For more information, look up knowing better cigarettes on YouTube since I'll have to write an essay to explain why and he puts it way better than I can
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@Hello_there@fedia.io 2026-04-25 19:43
I think about this with grocery stores. All you want is some cereal and there's a giant aisle of temptation people have to walk through
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@Aeao@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 21:15
But we still sell cigarettes and we could still sell alcohol. Just don’t advertise it on tv and such. As for addiction I disagree (I smoke) I stoped smoking for 2 years before my divorce. I never could stop drinking. On top of that you (though it’s very difficult mentally” you could go from a pack a day to zero in one day without negative effects. I’ve done it once before. Alcohol… I decided I needed to quit drinking a well ago, but I have to wait for a bed at a treatment center before I can quite. Otherwise I’ll die… I think drinking is pretty dangerous. “No body smoke occasionally “ paraphrasing of course. Yes they absolutely do. “I only smoke when I drink “ is a very common thing. Lots of people only smoke when they get stressed.
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@cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-25 20:53
Money. Cigarette ads were justly banned. The Marlboro Man and Joe Camel were iconic brands. The latter was designed specifically to encourage kids to smoke. As a kid, I thought Joe Camel was cool as shit. I didn't want to smoke because of him, but I liked his vibe. (It wasn't lost on me that his head was shaped like a penis; that was an intentional design choice, but he was still a cool dude.) That said, when I turned 18 and I tried smoking, I bought a pack of Camel filters, but that was because it was my mom's brand. I tried like two. Decided it wasn't for me. My mom's only beef was that I bought a hard pack — she always bought soft packs. I never got that. Anyway, she got 18 smokes for free, and even back when they were $1.50 a pack, that was a heck of a deal. (Fortunately she did not make me chain smoke the rest of them. I learned my lesson. Plus, I was 18.)
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@FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 2026-04-25 23:36
I've always found it weird that alcohol doesn't have warning labels. At least not where I live. I guess the risks are common knowledge but we can say the same for cigarettes
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@quick_snail@feddit.nl 2026-04-26 03:48
Big Booze
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@Buffalox@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 21:06
Alcohol is bad, but smoking is worse. Smoking is both way more addictive and it is a bigger health risk. It's rare to be a moderate smoker, generally you either don't smoke at all, or if you do you are a smoker, with numerous health risks. With alcohol moderate use is the norm, and only excessive use will make you an alcoholic, resulting in numerous health risks. AFAIK it has only lately become known that even moderate alcohol use is still a health risk. AFAIK mostly causing intestine cancer. So instead we have campaigns warning against drinking to much, which was also how it started with cigarettes.
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@homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 19:47
Lobbying. Big Liquor is in everyone’s pocket.
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@urheber@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-04-27 09:35
Srsly. Bring back cigarette ads
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@Agent641@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 23:33
To be fair, as an alcoholic, alcohol ads had zero effect on my purchases. Before I quit, the only thing that influenced my buying was the calculator app on my phone. For beer it was Millilitres per can times cans per block divided by ABV, divided by price. Higher number good.. For scotch and port it was easier.
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@RBWells@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 21:42
I do think that on a phone or computer one ought to be able to opt out, like how shops who spam me in email say "do you want to opt out of mother's day emails?" Because they don't want to send them if your mom or kid just died, right? But I don't know how you would do that without sort of registering as an alcoholic, which seems problematic. I'm literally subscribed to an industry newsletter and research cocktails for the community here, and haven't seen very many ads for any sort of alcohol though? Are you really seeing them all the time?
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@jtrek@startrek.website 2026-04-25 20:48
People make money on it. People don't care enough to organize around stopping it.
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@FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 2026-04-25 19:44
> How is that legal? Those considerations are always a trade-off. How much government should interfere with an industry, especially one that's been around since we monkeys climbed down from the trees? There isn't just the plight of alcoholics to consider. An advertisement ban would affect business and jobs. It would take a considerable chunk out of the advertising market that when gone world affect media, an already struggling industry. And AA doesn't quite have the deep pockets for lobbying. It's legal because it's complicated, not because it's just. I happen to agree with you here; ads for alcohol should be banned along with those for any sort of gambling and prescription medication while I'm at it. This "drink responsibly" campaign is an effort to make it harder for lawmakers to decide. I'm reminded of that Soviet Union quote and i'm paraphrasing: we know that they know that we know that they know they're lying yet the lying continues. One day at a time.
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@marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today 2026-04-25 23:41
Because when you make the drunks angry they start shooting at cops. Smokers do not do that as much.
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@Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 2026-04-25 20:38
Cigarettes cause more deaths: 8 million per year compared to 2.8 million per year. Not disagreeing with you, just pointing out why perhaps there are more lenient rules.
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@SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 2026-04-26 19:28
🎵 No stems no seeds That you don't need Acapulco Gold is [fffffffff!] Baaaad aaasss weeeed! 🎶
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@Aeao@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 22:24
That’s a good answer other than the prohibition part. Yes that’s was disaster. I’m talking about advertising the product to … young people a lot of the time. Plus the framework for the ad ban has already been tried successfully.
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@TheKracken@lemmy.world 2026-04-25 20:21
It's because cigarette companies started to advertise to kids.
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@zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-25 19:41
Cigateres are produced by a handful of companies. They can lobby, lie and bribe. Alcohol is also produced by farmers. And they are very loud and meaningful group with a lots of support and political power when they get united... So there would be a massive outrage if someone would like cut off profits from "poor farmers".
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@netvor@lemmy.world 2026-04-27 02:35
TBH: Interesting question, post ruined by this "US-centric or not" BS. (Rest assured that as European, I don't give a f about your insecurities with your education, at least not in unrelated posts. I'd bet most Europeans would not be able to point to most U.S. on the map, maybe Texas, California, Florida (wink) or NY but that's about it. Even I know barely half of them, and that's because I'm a terminally online look-up-everything-on-wikipedia nerd.) I was just curious about what would people say about ad regulations. I would have no problem with question being US-centric or any-other-country-centric.