A new Oregon Liquor Control Commission rule now allows bars and restaurants to advertise happy hours in locations off their premises.
Newly permitted outside advertising includes signage on the exterior of the building (sandwich boards, painted windows), and newspaper, radio and Internet ads, but OLCC spokesperson Christie Scott said the new leeway allowed by the law change isn’t without some restrictions.
Advertisements cannot display the price of drinks during happy hour, Scott said, to avoid potential price wars: businesses trying to outdo each other with advertisements and unreasonably driving prices down to compete.
“They can advertise their featured promotions — cheap beer, best margaritas in town, great specials — they just can’t say the exact discount,” Scott said. “It was agreed that this could contribute to price wars. The idea behind it is to prevent over-consumption in a short period of time.”
The OLCC organized an advisory committee to rework the law when an administrative judge notified the commission that its current law prohibiting outside advertising for happy hours could be misconstrued to mean restricting advertising for food happy hours. Scott said this was not the OLCC’s intent, because liquor control is the only concern, and this snafu became an opportunity to update the rule in other ways.
“(This was) a great opportunity to modernize that rule, because when it was formed in 1985, we didn’t have social media,” she said. “Also, the enforcement impact was a factor, because it was impossible to look at everyone’s Facebook and Twitter to make sure they weren’t advertising there.”
The OLCC advisory committee included moderation groups, the Department of Human Services, restaurant owners, bar owners and the Broadcast Association. Moderation groups were responsible for drawing the line at outside price advertising, because they saw the potential for price wars and subsequent over-consumption of alcohol.
Scott said feedback on the rule change from the industry has been positive.
Owners of Rennie’s Landing and Max’s Tavern, two establishments that serve alcohol near campus, said they don’t do outside advertising and don’t anticipate the rule change will affect them, presumably because they are well-known establishments located close to the University.
Max’s owner Ward Fairbairn said he understood why value-priced drinks made sense to people, but really cheap booze could equal a less-than-desirable drinking atmosphere.
“Your money is hard-earned and you want it to go as far as possible,” he said, “but perhaps it’s worth that extra buck not to be in a zoo while you’re enjoying your beer.”
Fairbairn said he hadn’t been aware the OLCC had changed the rule, but he found certain parts of the issue trite.
“I know they’ve generally been against public advertisements, and I see that as perfectly legitimate,” Fairbairn said. “But there are always those people trying to chisel away at that.”
[email protected]