Showing It Like It Isn't

No matter that TV serials portray alcoholism and homosexuality or that bikini-clad models frolic in commercials for Caribbean resorts. By fiat of the Television Code Authority of the National Association of Broadcasters, TV commercials have long been forbidden to show beer and wine actually being consumed or undergarments stretched over living, quivering flesh. If viewers who did not want to watch earthy programs were assaulted by racy commercials, the broadcasters feared, the industry would face charges of offending community standards of good taste.

Says Stockton Helfrich, director of the code authority's staff: "Reaching some common denominator on advertising that is acceptable to all communities is extremely difficult."

That is why the code's nine-member review board convenes periodically to examine the ad guidelines as it did last week in Phoenix. Among arguments they heard was a plea from Playtex that ads showing brassieres floating through space or worn over a model's leotard fail to communicate their virtues adequately. Playtex had tested one of the show-it-like-it-is bra commercials that it runs in Europe on U.S. TV recently, and assured the board that the ad was calmly received. But the members, evidently lacking the common denominator for such a sweeping change, voted not only to continue their underwear taboo but also to deny a request-by the Hanes Corp. to test some uninhibited ads for its Bali bras. Not content with just barring the living bra from U.S. TV, the board also decided to retain its "anti-quaffing" dictum and to consider banning beer and wine testimonials by celebrities admired by youngsters to boot.

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