Sao Paulo, Sept 20: Television alcohol advertisements featuring scantily clad models will be banned in Brazil under new guidelines issued by the self-regulating ad council of Latin America's largest country.
The guidelines banning erotic content in the ads also apply to magazine and radio pitches for all alcoholic beverages.
The rules issued last week go into effect within three months. They are aimed at reducing alcohol use among minors and heading off efforts by lawmakers to enact legislation restricting the ads.
Brazilian alcohol ads frequently use stunning models in tiny bikinis sipping draft beer in bars or clutching bottles of ice-cold beer.
In one popular ad, a near-naked woman covered only by a small towel smiles from behind an apartment window as two men at a bar across the street ogle her and agree that she "definitely deserves a Kaiser."
AmBev, Brazil's largest brewer, and competitors Kaiser and Schincariol declined comment on the new guidelines because they were still analyzing them.
But officials with Brazil's National Advertising Regulatory Council predicted the alcohol industry will comply with the guidelines.
Alvaro Moura, one of the group's legal advisers, said the rules were adopted to counter legislation being prepared that could ban all ads for alcoholic beverages in Brazil. The guidelines also ban the use of animated characters in alcoholic beverage ads.

Bureau Report