Advertising Sin and Sickness
Pamela Pennock
Temperance advocates believed they could eradicate alcohol by persuading consumers to avoid it; prohibitionists put their faith in legislation forbidding its manufacture, transportation, and sale. After the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, however, reformers sought a new method—targeting advertising.
In Advertising Sin and Sickness, Pamela E. Pennock documents three distinct periods in the history of the national debate over the regulation of alcohol and tobacco marketing. Tracing the fate of proposed federal policies, she introduces their advocates and opponents, from politicians and religious leaders to scientists and businessmen. In the 1950s, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and other religious organizations ... Read more
The politics of alcohol and tobacco advertising, Pennock concludes, reflect profound cultural ambivalence about consumerism and private enterprise, morality and health, scientific authority and the legitimate regulation of commercial speech. Today, the United States continues to face difficult questions about the proper role of the federal government when powerful industries market potentially harmful but undeniably popular products.
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About Pamela Pennock
Reviews for Advertising Sin and Sickness
Business History Review
The author quite rightly sees this history as an important element in the unfolding reaction to consumer culture in the United States and the uneasiness sometimes associated with the growth of marketing to ... Read more