NASCAR and liquor ads

Last night I saw a feature on ESPN's Sports Center about the big controversy over NASCAR now allowing hard liquor advertising. Many people are very upset because this "sends the wrong message" and it goes against NASCAR's family image. I can address this quickly. NASCAR has allowed sponsorships by beer companies since 1972. Tobacco companies are also longtime sponsors of NASCAR. Beer can cause just as much damage as hard liquor, and tobacco use causes cancer. Why haven't all these people upset about hard liquor sponsorship been complaining just as much about beer and tobacco? Yeah, beer, cigarettes, and chewing tobacco just scream "family values." Here's my message to all you people that are against hard liquor being part of NASCAR: unless you are going to complain about beer and tobacco as well, get off your hypocritical high horse.

And for the record, I think NASCAR can do whatever it wants in terms of advertising and sponsorships.