AMERICAN NOTES: Equal Time

The first time the idea of counter-commercials was tried on television, groups like the American Cancer Society sponsored warnings in answer to cigarette advertisements. That, ruled the Federal Communications Commission, was the spirit of the fairness doctrine, which requires broadcasters presenting one side of an issue of public importance to provide opportunity for the presentation of opposing views. Now the Federal Trade Commission would like to enlarge the practice. Last week it urged the FCC to order "counter-advertising" in a wider area.

The idea is an inviting one. Environmentalists would surely want to reply to detergent manufacturers, oil companies and carmakers. Women's liberation—or for that matter, the most unliberated drudge in Schenectady, N.Y.—would certainly want to protest the TV-commercial image of American women as a sorority of dirt-crazed psychotics sniffing one another's laundry and kitchens ("Housitosis!") and holystoning the linoleum like Lady Macbeth. The Women's Christian Temperance Union might have some words about beer and wine ads. Eventually, perhaps, horse lovers might demand time to talk about dog foods. It is tempting to think that before long the great debate of commercials would expand to fill more and more air time, encroaching until regular programming is pre-empted entirely. It might even be more entertaining.