Advertising Sin and Sickness: The Politics of Alcohol and Tobacco Marketing, 1950-1990 (review)

This book traces three efforts to ban or regulate the marketing of alcohol and tobacco products in the last half of the twentieth century. The first manifested itself in a string of congressional hearings on the advertising of alcoholic beverages that began in 1947 and continued until 1958. The second involved the antismoking push that put warning labels on cigarette packages in 1965 and eliminated broadcast cigarette ads in 1970. The third was a drive to place similar limits on the marketing of alcohol, which culminated in legislative hearings and debates during the last half of the 1980s.

Pamela Pennock rightly sees something significant and representative in the fact that each of these reform efforts took aim not at the sale or consumption of the products, but at the manner in which the products were advertised. This development signifies the fundamental place that consumer culture assumed in late twentieth century America as well as the periodic unease sparked by some of its excesses and cultural ramifications. The topic also provides a window on the ebb and flow of American attitudes toward the function, responsibilities, and authority of the federal government.

Pennock offers clearly written and detailed explanations of the political maneuvers in each era. The coalition of "drys" that mobilized against alcoholic beverages in the 1950s was a direct ancestor of temperance activism from early in the century. Its cause was fueled by religious conviction and concern about the damage drinking did to the moral fiber of the nation. Industry forces thwarted these opponents by effectively raising a host of constitutional issues regarding the advertising ban and casting the drys as zealots attempting to revive the disastrous experiment of Prohibition. Meanwhile, they created advertisements that successfully positioned social drinking as an appropriate and even iconic representation of the "good life" to which the suburban middle-class aspired in the period of affluence following World War II.

In contrast, during the following decade antismoking forces made their case on public health concerns rather than moral grounds, using epidemiological studies to highlight the medical risks of smoking. As a project of technocrats and concerned public officials rather than grassroots activists, the antismoking camp believed that scientific evidence alone would prompt congressional action, but the tobacco industry's lobbying and public relations savvy neutralized many of its efforts. Eventually, a consumer protection faction in Congress plus aggressive regulatory action by federal agencies did mandate warning labels on both packaging and advertisements and banned cigarette ads from broadcast media.

A "new temperance" movement began agitating for restrictions on alcoholic beverage advertising in the 1970s and reached its peak in the following decade. It seemed to have considerable momentum based on growing concerns over drunken driving, youth drinking, and fetal alcohol syndrome. In the end, however, the antiregulatory, probusiness mood that characterized political and legal decision-making in the 1980s left this movement with one small victory—a warning label on bottles—and complete failure in the area of advertising restrictions.

Pennock highlights issues that threaded through these debates and remain incompletely resolved today, including questions about the vulnerability of youth to the influence of mass media, the legal protection that commercial speech deserves, the appropriateness of government intervention to ensure the health of its citizens, and the politicization of scientific research. She also cross-references each reform effort with concurrent social changes: debates over mass culture in the 1950s, the consumer protection movement of the 1960s, the personal health movement of the 1970s, and the antiregulatory tendencies of the 1980s. She frames the entire story as part of an enduring contest between American ideals of individualism, liberty, and economic gain versus American traditions of self-restraint, virtue, and health. While this last argument seems logical, it is more asserted than demonstrated with any historical depth.

On occasions the book's narrow focus is mildly frustrating...