The Surprising Reason People Don't Drink Beer In Commercials
If you've ever turned on a television for more than a few minutes, you've probably seen at least one beer commercial. They're usually full of friends having a good time and cracking open a cold beer, but have you ever seen someone actually sip one of those beers?
“Congress has not enacted any law prohibiting broadcast advertising of any kind of alcoholic beverage, and the FCC does not have a rule or policy regulating such advertisements.”
To be clear, you can legally drink beer in a commercial. However, you'll almost never see any alcohol brand do it. This regulation doesn't come from the federal government; the government actually has no hard-and-fast rules about showing anyone consuming alcohol in commercials. It actually comes down to the networks themselves, all of which generally look down on alcohol consumption on camera. As a result, alcohol brands refrain from putting any alcohol-drinking visuals in their commercials because that means the ad could get banned from certain networks, ultimately trimming the audience who might see it. Since brands want their commercials shown on as many networks as possible, it's best to act conservatively when it comes to drinking beer on screen.
There are no laws against drinking beer on camera
So, if a beer company produced a commercial with someone consuming alcohol, there's a good chance it wouldn't be shown on a massive network like ABC. Beer drinking has declined in recent years, so these beer brands likely feel commercials are more necessary than ever. But producers have become so creative about beer commercials and their plot lines to the point where you probably never even noticed that nobody takes an actual sip.