The other day in class, some classmates and I were discussing beer commercials, and I brought forward the point that Beer companies are not allowed to show in their commercials, the consumption of alcohol. None of my classmates believed this at first, as they thought back on commercials they all could have sworn they had seen the consumption on T.V.
This made me wonder how beer companies work around the problems proposed by regulatory agencies. After viewing a few more commercials it became apparent that the companies choose to switch frames frequently, especially as the people within the ads begin to raise the beer/glass to their lips.
Why then, would it be illegal to portray the consumption of alcohol on T.V. What drives regulatory agencies to ban this? There is no cement reason.
Why is it legal to portray commercials for "vibrating rings" for enhanced sex, or propagated ads against abortion. What about watching somebody take a sip of beer is so detrimental to society?
Social-norms in society dictate to companies what they can market, what they can get away with and so on. For instance in many European countries it is not uncommon to find nude weather channels, if we had those in America, I can only imagine the "sexist" protests that would arise.
It does not seem right to me, that an agency can provide guidelines to companies on how they can market their products. We are a capitalistic society, who promotes freedom of speech and the right to make our own decisions.
So I finish this blog by asking, How free, is our freedom of speech?
