{"id":575769,"date":"2010-05-21T17:35:27","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T21:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011924607_toreducechildrensexposuretoadsforalcoholanewruleforneonsignplace.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-05-21T17:35:27","modified_gmt":"2010-05-21T21:35:27","slug":"to-reduce-childrens-exposure-to-ads-for-alcohol-a-new-rule-for-neon-sign-placement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/575769","title":{"rendered":"To reduce children’s exposure to ads for alcohol, a new rule for neon sign placement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four signs to rule them all, but which ones?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On May 15th, I received a letter from the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) informing me that as of April 3rd, I would be limited to four neon signs in my tavern\u2019s windows. Furthermore, the signs could be no larger than 1,600 square inches.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this rule was to ensure that innocent children would not be overexposed to garish advertisements that would induce them to consume products that could contain alcohol.<\/p>\n

I have conformed to the new rule. However, I have a small dilemma: Which of the 13 neon signs that used to hang in my windows is least likely to cause children harm?<\/p>\n

One sign says \u201cRainier\u201d in red with a white mountain behind it. Is this safe? Another sign is shaped sort of like a guitar and says \u201cBudweiser.\u201d Would this cause children to pester their parents to buy the product or, even worse, aspire to become a rock star?<\/p>\n

There was a sign that said \u201cSteam\u201d over an anchor design. This I knew to be dangerous to children because it surely would inspire them to get a bad hairdo and start reading the most alarming things to an unsuspecting public on evening television.<\/p>\n

The worst of all was a sign that said \u201cSchlitz\u201d in big letters with the cryptic message: trade pure mark. That could encourage almost anyone to start speaking English badly.<\/p>\n

The WSLCB did not include in its notification any guidelines on how to select a non-offending neon. I ask The Times and its readers for some help. How would one choose a neon advertisement that will not threaten the well being of our children?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gustav Hellthaler, Blue Moon Tavern owner, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four signs to rule them all, but which ones? On May 15th, I received a letter from the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) informing me that as of April 3rd, I would be limited to four neon signs in my tavern\u2019s windows. Furthermore, the signs could be no larger than 1,600 square inches. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}