Parents Television Council to California: Keep Off (TV) Grass

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The Parents Television Council—which is based in Los Angeles—is calling on voters in California to oppose a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana use. But PTC's focus is on the provision allowing that use to be advertised on broadcast and cable TV, as well as other outlets.

Proposition 64 does require that the audience composition of the media where the ads can be placed average more than two-thirds over 21 years old, says PTC, but it says the wording will effectively allow the ads on "almost any TV program" at “almost any time of day." "Our nation rightly prohibits the marketing of tobacco products on television so as to protect children, and the marketing of marijuana should be held to no lesser of a standard," said PTC president Tim Winter. "Marijuana should not be advertised to children, and this measure opens the floodgates that would be impossible to close.” The relevant ad language in Proposition 64 is: “Any advertising or marketing placed in broadcast, cable, radio, print and digital communications shall only be displayed where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older, as determined by reliable, up-to-date audience composition data." There has been some dispute about whether or not marijuana can be advertised.


Parents Television Council to California: Keep Off (TV) Grass