Concern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. There is currently a rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, satellite, and cable formats and these will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercilization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.
An advertising executive and sociologist who has studied alcoholism at length analyzes worldwide theoretical and empirical studies on the relationship between mass media and advertising and alcohol consumption and abuse. Dr. Fisher pulls together findings from content analyses, experiments, quasi-experiments, econometric studies, and evaluations of advertising restrictions and warning labels to determine how advertising works and affects human behavior.