Internationales
Pressemitteilung
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 22, 2004
Contact: Jeff Cronin: 202-777-8316
George Hacker: 202-777-8343
MOMENTUM BUILDS TO END BEER ADS IN COLLEGE SPORTS
210 NCAA Schools Pledge Action to Nix Alcohol Ads
WASHINGTON--More than 200 colleges in the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have pledged to end alcohol advertising
on college sports broadcasts. Those schools are joined by two Division I
conferences--the Ivy League and the Big South Conference--which have also signed
the "College Commitment," a nationwide effort promoted by the Campaign
for Alcohol-Free Sports TV.
The College Commitment asks schools to end alcohol ads on
local broadcasts of their sporting events and to vote within their conference
and the NCAA to end alcohol ads on all televised college sports events.
"College presidents, athletic directors, and coaches
are increasingly uncomfortable trying to combat alcohol problems on campus on
the one hand, and promoting beer on their sports broadcasts on the other,"
said George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center
for Science in the Public Interest, which runs the Campaign for Alcohol-Free
Sports TV. "In just a few months, 20 percent of NCAA-member schools joined
the campaign to sever the link between alcohol advertising and college sports."
The campaign has also gained the support of a growing
number of college sports legends, including former University of North Carolina
basketball coach Dean Smith, and U.S. Representative Tom Osborne (R-NE) former
University of Nebraska football coach. Also supporting the effort are former
UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, Penn State University football coach Joe
Paterno, and University of Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun.
More than 160 organizations also support the campaign,
including the American College Health Association, the National Association of
High School Coaches, A
Matter of Degree at the American Medical Association, the American Public Health
Association, the Georgia PTA, and the American School Health Association.
More than 1,400 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries. 500,000 students are injured under the influence of alcohol each year and more than 70,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
60 percent of all television alcohol advertising is spent on sports programming. Alcohol producers spent close to $600 million on sports programming in 2002. Of that, approximately $58 million was spent on college sports programs--about 6,251 ads--according to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY).
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a nonprofit health research and education group based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on nutrition, food safety, and pro-health alcohol policies. CSPI is supported largely by the 850,000 U.S. and Canadian subscribers to its Nutrition Action Healthletter and by foundation grants.
