THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995                TAG: 9503040448
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Virginia News 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                       LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

CALLERS MAD ABOUT AD FOR STATE LIQUOR SALES THE ABC BOARD SAYS SUPPLIERS PAID FOR THE AD, WHICH APPEARED IN 5 STATE NEWSPAPERS.

Callers flooded state Alcohol Beverage Control offices with complaints after a liquor advertisement with the ABC logo appeared in five newspapers around the state.

The callers Thursday said the state agency should not promote drinking or pay for advertising, ABC officials said.

``The idea was to show that the products were available, not to say that ABC was endorsing these products or trying to push them,'' said Curtis Coleburn, secretary of the three-member state ABC board.

ABC did not pay for any portion of the ad, said Robert Chapman, a Richmond-based ABC spokesman. He said a group of suppliers bought the color ad, which took up three-fourths of a page and promoted a monthlong sale of eight brands of whiskey and liqueur.

``In the next advertisements, there will be a disclaimer that says we did not pay for the ad,'' Chapman said. ``The vendors came up with this ad. We didn't see a final copy.''

But Chapman pointed out that there is no state law that prohibits the agency charged with regulating alcohol sales from buying advertisements. ``We just choose not to.''

The three-member ABC board knew its logo would appear in the ad, said Coleburn.

The advertisement appeared in the Daily Press, The Virginian-Pilot, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Roanoke Times & World-News and The Washington Post.

``The Chesapeake ABC office got dozens of calls in the first two hours,'' said Chapman. ``We got dozens of calls here.''

Chapman said he did know when, or how many times, the ad would be published.

Since 1934, ABC has had a state-run monopoly on bottled liquor sales in Virginia. By placing a 20 percent liquor tax on every bottle of liquor sold, ABC generated $32 million for the state in the fiscal year ending June 30.

But sales have been declining. The 242 ABC stores statewide sold 2.5 million fewer gallons of liquor in fiscal 1994 than 1982, when they sold 9.3 million gallons, state figures show.

Experts say tougher drunken-driving laws, higher taxes and health concerns are factors in a national decline in liquor consumption. Also, drunkenness is less socially acceptable.

KEYWORDS: ALCOHOL ADVERTISING by CNB