A sign in a Kroger supermarket in Nashville urges shoppers to sign up for a group urging wine sales in grocery stores.NASHVILLE - Armed with a $900,000 war chest, grocery stores are blitzing television, radio and social media this week with ads aimed at persuading voters in 78 municipalities to say yes to allowing wine sales in food stores.
Hamilton County is home of six cities towns holding such referendums.
Red, White and Food, the organization behind the effort, is spending nearly $72,000 to air 30-second spots on the four major network affiliates in Chattanooga.
That's according to a Times Free Press review of Federal Communications Commission public file disclosures for WRCB-TV, WTVC-TV, WDEF-TV and WDSI.
Most of the television ads begin Wednesday, the first day of early voting in Tennessee, and continue through the Nov. 4 election.
"The ads serve two purposes," said Susie Alcorn, Red White and Food's campaign manager, in a news release. "First, the ads create awareness that the question of whether to allow wine in retail food stores is now with the voters. Second, and importantly, we are asking people to Vote For Wine."
The ads feature food-store shoppers, many of them with children in tow, looking for wine but unable to find it.
"We're busy people," a voice over says in one ad as a series of shoppers ask, "where's the wine?"
Locally, the issue of allowing wine sales in grocery stores is on the ballot for voters living in Chattanooga, Collegedale, East Ridge, Lakesite, Red Bank and Signal Mountain.
Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press.