Parents Object to Racy Ads during Games

(AP)  Ads for erectile dysfunction drugs, beer and not-for-children films abound on pro football and baseball telecasts, upsetting parents and politicians worried about harm to young viewers - though a new wave of complaints doesn't seem to be swaying the leagues, networks or advertisers.

Earlier this year, a national media monitoring group urged the leagues to "clean up their act" after reporting that half the ad breaks during National Football League telecasts showed at least one ad featuring sex, drugs or alcohol. A congressman concerned about the issue even introduced bill that would limit ED ads to nighttime.

The San Francisco-based monitoring organization, Common Sense Media, this week provided The Associated Press with preliminary results of a similar ad study on Major League Baseball daytime telecasts - it found the rate of ads for alcohol and ED drugs at least as high as for NFL, and said there were even more ads for junk food.

The leagues, however, don't seem inclined to disrupt the status quo.

"We follow the lead of our broadcasters as it relates to ads, yet we are always sensitive to the opinions of our fans," said MLB spokesman Matt Bourne.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, in an e-mail after the league's opening week, wrote that "we are comfortable with our policies and those of our network partners."

The CEO of Common Sense Media, James Steyer, said the profitable ad policies are unlikely to change without political or regulatory pressure.

Steyer, who has taught law at Stanford University, said the leagues, networks and advertisers all share responsibility for the situation, "but none of them are being held accountable."

After the NFL study was released in January, Steyer said he wrote to commissioner Roger Goodell urging the league to consider changes, while Common Sense Media supporters sent hundreds of e-mails expressing similar concerns. Steyer says the NFL never responded; McCarthy says the NFL is not aware of any letter from Steyer but would be willing to talk with him now.

In May, Rep. Jim Moran introduced a bill that would limit TV ads for erectile dysfunction drugs to between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. - not expecting it to pass any time soon but hoping it would send a warning to the drug makers. The Virginia Democrat had withdrawn a similar bill in 2005 after the companies offered to change their ad policies, but said the ads now "appear to have become even more pervasive and explicit."

"Many parents I talk with are frustrated and annoyed by the overwhelming presence of these ads during programs they watch with their children," Moran wrote to the makers of the three main ED drugs. "Parents should be able to watch a football game with their kids without having to either mute the television or explain the side effects of a life enhancement drug."

Pfizer Inc., which makes Viagra, responded that it only places ads for the drug on TV shows, including sports events, which have a viewership that's at least 90 percent adult. According to the NFL, the average age of its TV viewers is 45 and only about 9 percent are under 18.

"Our goal in advertising our products is to reach patients who would most likely benefit from them," Pfizer's CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, wrote to Moran.

Kindler also noted that the ads' graphic discussion of possible side effects - including long-lasting erections - is mandatory.

There's no comparable move to legislate changes in beer advertising, which constitutes a huge portion of broadcast revenue for many professional sports. Nonetheless, many parents and health experts worry that children are adversely influenced by the drinking-is-fun message implicit in beer commercials.

After the latest Super Bowl, the Drug-Free Action Alliance in Columbus, Ohio, surveyed 8,400 teens, and found that three of their five favorite ads during the telecast were for beer. The alliance said the result is an added inducement for young people to start drinking at an early age and an increased risk of problems with alcohol later in life.

The NFL has detailed rules about types of ads it prohibits on its telecasts - taboo products include hard liquor, condoms, strip clubs, firearms and casinos, as well as movies, video games and other media that contain "objectionable material or subject matter." Wine, beer, oral contraceptives and erectile dysfunction drugs are on the acceptable list.

The networks say they take advertising content seriously, vetting commercials for objectionable and unsuitable content, and often rejecting them altogether or for certain time slots.

"Every network ad and promo is placed based on a program's typical demographics," said Fox Sports spokesman Lou D'Ermilio. "The audience composition for NFL games is overwhelmingly adult."

Yet those demographics don't make it easier for parents of the throngs of children who do tune in.

Lisa Hoover, a single mother from Sarasota, Fla., says she and her three sons are devoted NFL fans who watch many games.

"All the while, I have to explain terms like 'erectile dysfunction' to my kids, remind them that drinking beer isn't as cool as all the ads make it seem, and distract them from Go Daddy commercials that border on soft porn," Hoover wrote last month on her blog.

"While I don't hold the NFL responsible for the juvenile advertising, I'm sure a few a pointed comments from Commissioner Goodell to sponsors about respectability wouldn't hurt."

But not all adults see the situation as dire.

Joanne Cantor, a former University of Wisconsin professor who writes about media issues, said on her blog that she shares concerns about the beer ads on NFL telecasts, but has mixed feelings about the ED ads.

"These ads show a side of sexuality rarely seen on television - that is, not-so-young couples in apparently committed relationships," she wrote. "So maybe that part isn't all bad."

[texanforlogi]

The folks freaking out over this are of the same type as those freaking out over feminine products ads. They are legal, necessary in some cases, and natural--get over it.

Parents are too indulgent of their own laziness and wimpiness. It isn't hard to explain ALL of this stuff to kids.

Viagra? Try "it's an old man medicine". That will take care of the curiosity.

Beer? Bimbos? Bad behavior? Try: "Honey, sometimes grownups act very badly and this is a good example." and then go on to explain that doing X is wrong because. . .

If you don't have the stomach for it you should have thought about that BEFORE you have kids. Kids deserve better from their parents.

[Solarrays247]

If our society had a healthier attitude toward sex and booze, perhaps we wouldn't have so many adults running around raping children and murdering? We have much of our population growing up with the attitude that sex is bad, rather than being taught that sensuality and sex is part of being human, and that there is a right time and place for it. Same with booze.

Our puritanical mindset screws up more young minds than most anything else! As a result, I am convinced that more kids partake of premarital sex and overdosing on booze because it is forbidden, and their parents have not taken the time to explain the ramifications...aka irresponsibility, "side effects", unwanted pregnancies, and other damage control!

Oops, but maybe that is the main problem? It would mean that parents would actually have to make the time to have discussions with their children....and that does take time away from other things, doesn't it?

[jjp735i]

Give me a break. Congress has better things they should be doing instead of thinking of sex police laws during half time. Good Lord.

[docpeter1953]

If they get rid of the "offensive" ads what will they show?

Ads for laundry detergent and bleach?

[timdgrim]

These Cialis, Viva Viagra (Elvis rip offs), and Enzyte spots are annoying. Enough, if they had to call them what they really are like for example C-old people Hard-on helper, they'd be gone. Besides, who cares if you can't get it up you old f*art!

[spiritwalk]

I objected more to CBS parading Michael Vick around before the kids and trying to build him up as a hero again. They had a 60 Minutes interview with him and they would sell Manson, Hitler and Satan himself as a reformed hero if it would get them ratings. So you know they will accept any ads they can get and damn the kids who watch.

[jeff-fla]

The T.V. has an off button. Seems rather simple doesn't it?

[formrusmcsgt]

It has a mute button as well.

Apparently these parents are too lazy to use it.

[stuart-johns]

Maybe the parents should object to the capitalist greed of these sports organizations whose profits trump principles.

Maybe they can all stop paying these guys redicoulously high contracts and save some money that way. Then they can dump the ads.

[justsane-2009]

"These ads show a side of sexuality rarely seen on television - that is, not-so-young couples in apparently committed relationships," she wrote. "So maybe that part isn't all bad." this statement ignores the issue of why we should have to tolerate ads dealing with sexuality during shows that children are likely to watch. just like there are ratings for movies, there should be ratings for television commercials.