Wednesday, October 20, 2004

(AgapePress) - A new study indicates that, despite the alcohol industry's promise to do a better job limiting young people's exposure to its marketing efforts, the amount of alcohol advertising that is reaching youth continues to rise.

The report from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University finds that between 2001 and 2003, the exposure of kids to alcohol advertising grew by 17 percent. During that same time period, alcohol ads on TV increased from 208,000 to 298,000. David Jernigan, research director for the Center, says regardless of the alcohol trade's commitments to address the problem, the public is seeing more of the same from the industry.

CAMY Report: "Alcohol Advertising on Television, 2001 to 2003: More of the Same" [PDF]

"Much of this growth was driven by an increase in ads for hard liquor, for distilled spirits, particularly on cable," Jernigan says. "Where in 2001 distilled spirits companies put about 500 ads on cable, in 2003 they had 33,000 ads on cable."

The Center's researchers found that the alcohol industry spent more than $30 million to place advertisements on TV shows that have large teen audiences. The study reveals that all 15 of the TV shows most popular with teenagers carried alcohol ads.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

(AgapePress) - An outspoken Christian has won ShowTime's American Candidate mock presidential race, raking in a prize of $200,000 and an opportunity to give a televised speech about the issues he believes are important to the nation.

Park Gillespie is a public school teacher and evangelical Christian from North Carolina. Not long ago he was one of three finalists out of an original group of ten people on ShowTime's American Candidate, a TV show featuring ordinary Americans who campaigned for viewers' votes in a mock presidential race. After each episode, members of the television audience could call in and cast their ballot for their favorite candidate. (See earlier story)

Gillespie's last remaining opponent was a Democrat, a woman who works for a progressive 527 political group. She was a popular candidate, but ultimately, Gillespie garnered the most votes. Yet what the successful "American Candidate" feels he has really won, he says, is a platform to witness for Christ. "I've had a chance to do some speaking recently," he notes, "and I guess maybe you could say I've been able to have a larger classroom and able to have a dialogue with a lot more people."

The North Carolina teacher is excited about that. "I'm excited about the doors that have opened there," he explains, "of going into the secular and the Christian communities. And really, for the Christian, there is no secular community. Both communities are intricately linked because we're to be in the world, not of it. We're to be salt and light. We're to engage the culture. And I'm having a chance to move in and out of both situations and speak truth."

From his suddenly expanded platform, Gillespie encourages believers to see that they can make an impact on society from wherever God has placed them. He asserts, "Everyone, no matter where anybody who's listening to this is at, [needs to] realize that God, before the foundation of the universe was laid, foreordained that they would be in the job they're in, dealing with the people they're dealing with, and that they would have an influence."