# Beer commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2003, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908 "2003-01-06T09:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/1 "2003-01-06T09:11:41Z")
Can anyone explain the reasoning behind a rule that the Federal Communications Commission has about beer commercials on American television? You can’t actually show people drinking beer. You can show them opening the bottle, pouring it, hoisting it, putting it back down . . . but there’s that drinking part that you never see. 😕 Is anybody being fooled by this censorship? Are there groups of people who are scratching their heads as they stare at these commercials, wondering where the beer went? Who over the age of five does not understand that beer is a _drink_? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/2 "2003-01-06T10:18:18Z")
A silly rule, that one. There have been exceptions in the last few years. The Keystone Light ads (bitter beer face!) show the person drinking from a can marked “Bitter Beer.” Nobody ever is shown drinking the KL beer, though. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/3 "2003-01-06T16:54:29Z")
What rule? As far as I know, most of the policies involving alcohol on television are voluntary network policies. I remember clearly a beer-drinking contest on _Taxi_ that was shown in all its five-second glory. Of course, we know it wasn’t really beer, but neither is the stuff in the commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/4 "2003-01-06T17:16:02Z")
And the man show breaks what would be the spirit of the law by drinking beer on every show. I’m sure it’s non-alcoholic beer or look-a-like beer, but if there were some “law” pertaining to shows as well as ads, then they break it. I’d rather there be no rules, but we do live in a world of paranoid free speech squelchers. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/5 "2003-01-06T17:38:16Z")
I made no such claim that there is a FCC regulation against portrayal of _all_ beer drinking on American television. There is none. I said that the FCC does not allow beer drinking in _beer commercials_. Please re-read my original post. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/6 "2003-01-06T18:08:54Z")
Fine. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beer-commercials/146908/7 "2003-01-06T18:41:28Z")
I believe this is a network Standards and Practices thing, not a regulation. [According to the FCC](http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.html#TOBACCO): > [@](#): > > Congress has not enacted any law prohibiting broadcast advertising for any kind of alcoholic beverage. Also, the FCC does not have a rule or policy **regulating advertisements for alcoholic beverages**. emphasis mine