Faust, Others Decry NCAA Beer Ads

Come next year, March Madness may not be quite so mad if some university administrators—including University President Drew G. Faust—have their way.

Faust and over 100 other university presidents and athletic directors signed a letter yesterday demanding that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) revise its policies on beer advertisements, which they called “embarrassingly prominent.”

The letter, organized in part by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), came as the CSPI said the NCAA violated its own limit on beer commercials—120 seconds per telecast—during this year’s men’s basketball tournament.

Beer commercials ran for 270 seconds during Monday night’s championship game, according to the CSPI.

“It is hypocritical for colleges to promote the aims of higher education at the same time as they’re in bed with broadcasters and brewers,” said George A. Hacker, the director of the CSPI’s Alcohol Policies Program

Harvard joined a campaign in 2004 that called for the NCAA to completely eliminate alcohol advertising. The campaign has since been endorsed by 284 schools.

In a statement yesterday, Harvard spokesman John D. Longbrake said Faust’s endorsement confirmed “what has been a standing policy for Ivy League presidents.”

The NCAA banned advertising for beverages over six percent alcohol-by-volume in 1989, but many schools said the policy, as well as the cap on beer advertising, was insufficient.

“That exception defies and contravenes the reality on the ground at the college level regarding the beverage of choice and of devastation,” Hacker said.

Despite the stated limit, beer companies rank second in advertising expenditures for the NCAA tournament, according to TNS Media Intelligence—a firm that reports advertising data.

Though Hacker applauded the presidents’ action, he said he expects a lackluster reaction from the NCAA.

“I think they’ll probably take umbrage that we caught them with their pants down,” he said. “Then they’ll put their hands in their wallets and try to hang onto the availability of funds from alcohol advertisements.”

The NCAA did not return repeated requests for comment yesterday afternoon.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.