Banned in....

[mleach]

Of course everyone knows that most if not all tobacco products are banned from advertising on TV ( cigarettes in 1971, cigars in 1980 I think, and smokless tobacco in 1986 )but even before 1971 I read in one of my trivia books that some local stations had already begun to ban the ads such as the Group W stations and KSL in Salt Lake City. Any truth to that?

Hard Liquor..a while back when some ads for this did air on a few stations I heard that many stations themselves had rules in place where they wouldn't be allowed to advertise.

I imagine the same is true for strip clubs. I have never seen such ads on TV even though I have heard them on the radio in the past.

I think it was New York's WABC-TV that banned that Brooke Shields "nothing comes between me and my Clavins" Calvin Klein jeans ad back in the 80s. Today I doubt any New York station would even care.

Any examples of other local stations that went out and actually banned a commercial from airing on their station?

 

[MHB]

Of course everyone knows that most if not all tobacco products are banned from advertising on TV ( cigarettes in 1971, cigars in 1980 I think, and smokless tobacco in 1986 )but even before 1971 I read in one of my trivia books that some local stations had already begun to ban the ads such as the Group W stations and KSL in Salt Lake City. Any truth to that?

On this, it's definitely true. "Showdown in Marlboro Country", a September 1969 article in Consumer Reports, a little before the cigarette broadcast ban, notes that in spring 1969 the Westinghouse, Bonneville (i.e., KSL), and Washington Post groups said that they would drop cigarette ads when existing commitments expired.

 

[LKellerIII]

Before the tobacco ban, I remember this incident- ANTI-smoking public service announcements had already been produced for TV in the late 60s, but the networks were often too cowardly to air them, for fear of angering the tobacco companies who still paid them a lot of money for advertising.

William Talman ("Hamilton Burger" on Perry Mason) had recorded some anti-smoking ads shortly before his 1968 death from lung cancer. CBS refused to air them, their excuse being that they had a policy against airing anything done by people who were dead. One on-the-ball critic responded to that by noting that they were still running Petticoat Junction episodes with the recently deceased Bea Benadaret.

 

[bk77]

Awhile back I was reading in an old TV Guide from 1969 that some stations ( I would guess those in the south and midwest ) refused to air ads promoting the Dustin Hoffman movie "Midnight Cowboy" due to its subject matter and the fact that at the time the movie was rated "X".

No sure how true this is or not but I have been told that radio/TV stations in Virginia can not air ads for "adult" businesses such as so-called Gentlemen's Clubs. OTOH I can't see how a state had that much power on what can or can not air on stations within their state.

I do know back in the 70s and 80s when few states had their own lotteries, it was illegal for a tv/radio station to air ads for state lotteries if the state the station was licensed in didn't have their own lottery.
I have heard this rule is still in effect today. Interesting this doesn't include other forms for gambling such as casinos. Case in point, I was in Richmond, VA last year and saw an ad for a West Virginia casino on their local TV despite the fact that slot machines are illegal in Virginia.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I do know back in the 70s and 80s when few states had their own lotteries, it was illegal for a tv/radio station to air ads for state lotteries if the state the station was licensed in didn't have their own lottery.
I have heard this rule is still in effect today. Interesting this doesn't include other forms for gambling such as casinos. Case in point, I was in Richmond, VA last year and saw an ad for a West Virginia casino on their local TV despite the fact that slot machines are illegal in Virginia."

I don't know about Virginia, but in California, slot machines are illegal everywhere but the Indian casinos - Indian land being exempt, as we all know, because it is considered sovereign tribal territory. In northern California, Indian casinos spend MILLIONS on TV and billboard advertising, as do the casinos in reasonably nearby Lake Tahoe/Reno and not-so-near Las Vegas.