Group Seeks Removal of Alcohol Ads from Boston Subway

Last November, in rejecting the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's (MBTA's) bid to ban pro-marijuana legalization ads from trains and train stations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit noted that not only would the move violate free-speech rights, but said that alcohol ads previously approved by MBTA were "clearly more appealing to juveniles" than the proposed pro-pot ads.

That's a message that alcohol activists would like the MBTA to take to heart.

A group of Boston-area advocates known as Massachusetts Banding Together Against Alcohol Advertising (MBTAA) is urging the MBTA and its ad agency, Viacom Outdoor, to ban alcohol advertising on bus and train lines, arguing that alcohol ads promote underage drinking and binge drinking. The members of the ad hoc group include Join Together, the Boston Public Schools, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Harvard School of Public Health, among others.

"The MBTA doesn't allow tobacco ads; they ban them outright," said Amy Helburn, coordinator for MBTAA and a community health associate at The Medical Foundation, part of the Greater Boston Center for Healthy Communities. "How can they argue that alcohol is less of a public-health threat than tobacco?"

Other cities already ban alcohol ads from their mass-transit systems, notably BART in San Francisco and SEPTA in Philadelphia, alcohol advertising experts told Join Together.

During school vacation week in April, a youth group, Roxbury Adolescent Life Options, sent volunteers into the subways with digital cameras to document alcohol advertising systemwide. the young photographers found 140 ads on trains and in stations, including trains wrapped in Coors Light ads, Budweiser ads on the sides of trains, and ads for Johnnie Walker and Michelob Light.

"Drinking is such a problem in Boston ... any day, you can pick up a newspaper and see some sort of episode or fight involving college students," said Helburn. "It's really not appropriate -- in our opinion -- for a state government entity to be promoting alcohol use ... we think it's at odds with the state's other public-health initiatives."

In recent years, the MBTA has raked in millions of dollars in revenue by allowing alcohol ads on trains (including an entire train car wrapped in a Bacardi ad) and stations (South Station is literally covered in Johnnie Walker ads, from walls to floor).

"The problem in the T system is that you really can't get away from these ads," said Helburn. At least magazine readers can turn the page, and TV viewers can change the channel, she noted; riders in a subway car literally covered in alcohol ads have no similar options. "You're involuntarily subjected to this, and the state is sanctioning it," Helburn said.

The MBTAA recently submitted a request to the MBTA asking for a detailed breakdown of revenues from advertising and concessions, including specifics on money received from alcohol ads. Joe Pisaturo, a spokesperson for the MBTA, said that the agency gets a flat fee from Viacom for the rights to all of the advertising space within the system.

New MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas has agreed to meet with the MBTAA to discuss the alcohol ad ban; a meeting is now being scheduled. Meanwhile, the group is working with state lawmakers to pressure the MBTA to address the alcohol ad issue. And, after earlier balking at getting involved in the issue, the Massachusetts Health Department recently issued a strategic plan than includes reviewing the MBTA's alcohol-ad policy as a priority.

The MBTA currently bans ads hawking tobacco or firearms; ads that feature images of violence also are banned, as are ads determined to be demeaning or disparaging, those that promote unlawful goods, those that are sexually suggestive, and those that are false, deceptive, or misleading.

While allowing ads for alcohol, the agency limits such advertising by requiring that at least 3 percent of the ad space include a statement noting the legal drinking age in Massachusetts and warning of the dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, in connection with the operation of heavy machinery, and while driving.