which read "Licensed Premises." That was all until we entered Alaska wherewe were ashamed of our country-advertising and liquor outlets everywhere— even flyers thrown into our bus inviting us to visit the "Red Dog" saloon. Bruce Barton said "It is a terrific power that we wield—we men and women of advertising. It needs to be handled carefully, thoughtfully, sometimes even prayerfully. It is one of the most potent forces that for better or worse we influence and change human lives." Can you see anything in liquor advertising which could change lives for the better? If not, why permit it? In the 97th Maine Legislature last winter, a resolution was introduced memorializing Congress to prohibit alcoholic beverage advertising over the air on radio and television. At least the Maine member of your committee received a copy of the discussion in the House of Representatives on that resolve. Dr. Roundy, 79-year-old representative from Portland, who introduced the resolve said, "It becomes an unwelcome and disagreeable fact, disagreeable to me, at least, that it becomes necessary for children, young people as well as others, to be led to believe that the drinking of beer and wine is the socially acceptable thing to do." Thirty-seven year old representative, James Stanley, of Bangor, said in part, "I would like to go along on the idea of the advertising on TV and perhaps we could think of the way we live ourselves as the reason that we have these programs and the advertising that we have." He quoted from a poem, "What are you going to be my son, when you have reached your manhood years?" and then from the latter part of the poem, the following: "Would you have him go whereever you go, and do all the things you do, Have him see everything your eyes behold and woo all the gods you woo?" May I suggest here that if young people go wrong today, adults have themselves to blame in large measure by placing before them the lure of alcoholic beverages as glamorized in so much of the advertising which comes to them daily through the press and over the air. Representative Joseph Edgar, 44, of Bar Harbor, put it this way: "I would like to go along with the gentleman from Portland, Mr. Roundy, for just one reasonI have a 12-year-old daughter and I certainly do not appreciate having her go around the house singing a commercial extolling the virtues of a particular brand of beer or discussing with her playmates the relative merits of, one brand over another. Now those two incidents have actually happened and I have been very much disturbed by them ***." Just how are people going to keep on good terms with their children if they turn off their radios to avoid these advertisements. just when his favorite program is in progress. Representative Sanford of Dover-Foxcroft said "I have been over to my neighbor's once or twice and that is what I have seen and it made me so darned sick of the whole thing that I will not even purchase a television." In closing, I quote from the legislative record of that day's proceedings: "A division of the house was had. Ninety having voted in the affirmative and seventeen having voted in the negative, the motion prevailed * ** and the measure was sent up for concurrence." Although the senate did not concur but accepted the majority report of the liquor control committee "Ought not to pass.", it seem to me that this marvelous majority in the house is a very good indication of the strong feeling regarding this matter. Members of this committee-to whom you will listen-the profit hungry brewers and vintners who care nothing for the welfare of our people so long as they make money, or will you listen to the fathers, mothers, and Christian leaders and workers in our country who are distressed and alarmed by the influence of such advertising on our youth? Surely the welfare of our children is more important than the profits of the liquor industry. It is my sincere hope that you gentlemen of the committee who must surely have the best interest of all our citizens at heart will see fit to report favorably on this bill. I thank you for your courteous attention. Chairman PRIEST. Dr. James Renz is the next witness. STATEMENT OF JAMES RENZ, ELGIN, ILL., IN BEHALF OF THE GENERAL BROTHERHOOD BOARD OF THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN Mr. RENZ. Mr. Chairman, and members of this honorable committee, my name is James Renz. My home is in Elgin, Ill. I represent the General Brotherhood Board of the Church of the Brethren. I shall not read my statement, but I will ask if it may be filed with the committee. Chairman PRIEST. It will be made a part of the printed record. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GENERAL BROTHERHOOD BOARD, CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN, ELGIN, ILL. Mr. Chairman and members of this honorable committee, my name is James Renz. My home is at 862 Shuler Street, Elgin, Ill. The testimony I give is presented on behalf of the General Brotherhood Board of the Church of the Brethren. This board is the administrative body functioning on behalf of the Church of the Brethren and according to the principles, tenets, and decisions of the highest authoritative body, the annual conference, of the denomination. The testimony presented herein is divided into three parts: (1) Certain facts related to alcoholism, automobile accidents, and advertising; (2) deductions from the facts; and (3) a statement of the position of the Church of the Brethren regarding the question before this committee. Alcoholism is one of the major problems facing our country today. From the U. S. News and World Report, January 13, 1956, I quote. "In the last 13 years, rates of alcoholism have risen 45 percent among men and 52 percent among women, according to a survey by the Yale University Center of Alcohol Studies. **** * The most recent estimates: 4,589,000 alcoholics in the United States, of whom 705,000 are women." Add to this tremendous toll of alcoholics and their effects on industry, the community, and other social groups, the fact that alcohol-caused accidents injure and kill more Americans in automobile accidents per year than there were men of our Armed Forces injured and killed in all of World War II. Using the National Safety Council figure of approximately 25 percent of fatal auto accidents caused by a drinking driver, the number killed by alcohol-caused accidents will be less than those injured and killed in World War II. However, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, of the University of Illinois, after careful examination of the causes of automobile accidents in the United States and of coroner's reports which show a range of 46 to 60 percent of all persons in fatal car accidents had been drinking, came to the conclusion that, conservatively speaking, 40 percent of the car accidents in the United States can be charged to the drinking driver. Using the 40 percent ratio, in the year 1952, there would be approximately 559,200 fatalities and injuries causing major hospitalization due to alcohol, while in 4 years of World War II there were 556,126 servicemen killed and injured, according to the 1952 World Almanac. Now let us turn directly to advertising itself. For a 26-month period from September 1953 to October 1955 inclusive, careful records of run-of-the-press advertising as done in magazines and newspapers and reported by Reilly-Lake Shore, indicate advertising trends. By turning to the attached tables we note the following: (1) The advertising of beer is heavy during the summer months, while liquor advertising reaches its peak at the Christmas season, one of our holiest holidays; (2) the advertising of alcoholic beverages (beer and liquor combined) is in first place in 16 months of this time and never lower than fourth place; (3) we further note that either beer or liquor led the list of advertisers in 6 of these months during a period of rapid advertising progress and growth in volume; (4) further study of the facts indicates that, during this period, alcoholic beverages used 28.4 percent of color advertising space used by the 10 major products advertised. Contrast this with dairy products and soft drinks combined, which used 11.6 percent of advertising space. The facts presented herein are threefold, namely: The high rate of alcoholism, the high automobile-accident ratio due to drinking drivers, and the tremendous volume of alcoholic-beverage advertising in proportion to other advertising. The second part of our testimony is given in two theses. First, the consistently high consumption of alcoholic beverages is related to the advertising employed. It is only logical to reason that the advertising of name brands does at the same time increase total usage of a product. Evaluation of the advertising trends in the attached report of the run-of-the-press advertising indicates a relationship between the increased volume of seasonal advertising and comparable increases in the sales of the commodity advertised. This same trend operates for alcoholic beverages and their use. The second thesis is namely: The ratio of auto accidents, alcoholism, and other constituent problems, shows an alarming relationship to drinking incidence in the United States. While we do not intend to convey the impression that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the only cause or that it is directly responsible for all such ills, we believe the liquor traffic must bear its full share of the responsibility for the social, psychological, economic, ethical, and other problems caused by the use of its products. The advertising of marihuana, heroin, or other drugs that cause many of the same problems as alcoholic beverages is not permitted. We also believe that the elimination of alcoholic-beverage advertising in all interstate media of communication would materially lower the consumption of such beverages and the problems attendant to their use, and that alcohol-producing plants can be fully utilized for commercial purposes. We believe the alcoholic beverage traffic to be so entrenched within our society and causing so many problems at the local, State, and national levels, that controls must be placed on the advertising of alcoholic beverages which cause these basic problems. We believe in the preservation of the rights of our people to be free from the advertising of that which degrades our citizens. We deem it to be within the power of the Federal Government to regulate the interstate transportation or broadcast of such advertising when it affects such large numbers of people and so many areas of our life, and when the several States do not control it. Therefore, since alcoholic beverage advertising is employed both to increase and to maintain a high level of sales, and since ample evidence can be cited to prove the effects of such consumption of alcoholic beverages on our society, we support legislation at the State or national level which will lower the consumption of alcoholic beverages, lessen or eliminate concomitant problems, and preserve the rights of approximately 90 million persons in the United States who do not drink from having to be bombarded with such advertising. While we are numerically a small denomination of approximately 200,000 members in the United States, we have consistently held to positions which we deem to be in the best interests of the individual, the church, the community and the Nation. As part of the "Statement of the Church of the Brethren on the Alcohol Problem," the annual conference, on June 21, 1952, in Richmond, Va., adopted the following: "The Church of the Brethren has consistently and repeatedly stated its opposition to the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of alcoholic beverages. We, therefore, recommend and urge brethren to abstain from the manufacture, sale, or use of alcoholic beverages. We further urge brethren to refrain from working in the production, distribution, or dispensing of alcoholic beverages for use by the individual, or the production, or sale of materials to be used in the manufacture of such products." We interpret this official action of the church to include the elimination of alcoholic beverage advertising. We believe in America and in the principles of right and clean living for which our country stands. We believe in the church and the way of life it teaches. We feel we must speak out against all forms of evil wherever we find it. We support the Siler bill, H. R. 4627, to prohibit the transportation of alcoholic beverage advertising in interstate media of communication. We, therefore, call upon the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee to favorably report this bill to the House of Representatives of the United States, and ask their enactment of said legislation. ROP color advertising linage rank, September 1953 to October 1955 NOTE. All figures on this page are taken from the monthly newsletter published by Reilly-Lake Shore Electrotype, Chicago. Summary of run of the press advertising, September 1953 to October 1955 Mr. RENZ. I wish to call your attention to the last two pages of the statement in relation to one question which has been raised, and I will speak only a minute about it. The question has been raised about the trend in advertising, specifically in magazines and newspapers. In the figures attached here, you will find listed the trends in advertising in color in magazines and newspapers over the past 2-year period. You will note just two or three things about it. First, liquor advertising, meaning hard liquor, makes its major approach in the months of October, November, and December, mainly around one of our holy days or holidays, while beer makes its major approach beginning in April and concluding in August of each year. The last page summarizes for the 2-year period, and we find that alcoholic beverages, beer and liquor combined, use 28.4 percent of all advertising in color in those 2 years, while dairy products, coffee, tea, and soft drinks combined just use 18.5 percent. I just thought I would want to call that to your attention. Incidentally, I went back in the records and checked one thing further to find one year against another, and I find that in these 2-year periods, while the percentage of color advertising for alcoholic beverages went down slightly, the total volume of color advertising for alcoholic beverages went up. In other words, we are in a period of rapid progress in total volume in color advertising in the United States, in which the liquor industry is more than maintaining its own trend. Chairman PRIEST. We appreciate your statement and the figures you have given us, which will be valuable to the committee in clarifying these points for us. Mr. DOLLIVER. To clarify one thing about your tabulation on the last two pages, what do the initials ROP stand for? Mr. RENZ. ROP stands for run-of-the-press color advertising. It is delineated in the statement itself. Mr. DOLLIVER. And by color advertisement, you mean slick magazine advertising? Mr. RENZ. Any color advertising, slick magazine advertising, in either magazines or newspapers. Mr. DOLLIVER. Do you have any statistics on black and white? Mr. RENZ. I do not have at hand those statistics. They were only on color. Mr. DOLLIVER. Do you think from your experience and observation in the advertising field that the same trends would be present in the black and white as you found in the color advertising? Mr. RENZ. The trend has been primarily to color advertising within the past 2 years. Therefore, black-and-white advertising, as such, has been going down. However, in relation to liquor advertising, the trend has been somewhat comparable. Mr. DOLLIVER. You do not have any statistics as to the amount of time on television or radio, whether there is an increase or decrease in that respect as to liquor advertising? Mr. RENZ. I have not compiled those and do not have them included here, no. Mr. DOLLIVER. Do you know whether they are available any place? Mr. RENZ. I think with some research we could provide them for you, yes. Mr. DOLLIVER. Would that be adviseable, Mr. Chairman? Chairman PRIEST. I think it might be helpful if it does not hold up the record too long and require too much research. I think it would be helpful. Mr. RENZ. Let me suggest this: I will be happy to check into the possibility of it upon arrival at my office Monday and write to you immediately. Mr. DOLLIVER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is all. Chairman PRIEST. Thank you very much. |