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Despite Beaver Billboard, Hard Rock Scores First Amendment Win

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 4455 Paradise Road [map], Las Vegas, nv, United States, 89119

September 27, 2004 at 9:39 AM | 0 Comments

Here is a photo of the Hard Rock billboard (we mentioned last week).

Check it out. Hard Rock is definitely saying “na-na-na-na-na” to all Nevada gaming regulators and their attorneys.

A brief synopsis: Hard Rock throws up a series of provocative billboards aimed at rodeo attendees asking them to “Get Ready to Buck all night.” Believe it or not these “bucking” billboards sent state gaming regulators into a small fit.

A week before the Nevada Gaming Commission’s hearing to determine the “decency” of the billboards, the Hard Rock put up the billboard pictured to the right.

Despite all these billboard games, the commission dismissed the complaints against the Hard Rock late last week.

Attorneys hailed a Nevada Gaming Commission's Friday decision to dismiss two complaints against the Hard Rock Hotel arising from its sexually suggestive advertisements as a victory for the hotel-casino and the First Amendment.

The ACLU of Nevada's general counsel, Allen Lichtenstein, called it a landmark day for the First Amendment after the commission used the Hard Rock case to establish the principle that the state's gaming regulations cannot go beyond what is constitutionally permissible, despite arguments to the contrary by Attorney General Brian Sandoval's office.

"Even though there was some discussion that this wasn't about free speech, that's what it really was about. They dismissed (the counts in question) because these ads can't be constitutionally censured," Lichtenstein said.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Toni Cowan, who represented state gaming regulators, argued the ads glorified illegal behavior, even though she admitted they were not obscene and did not seek to entice people to violate the law.

"Hard Rock maintains the ads should be allowed because they're satire. Our position is these (regulator arguments) are just excuses," Cowan said.

Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard and the four other commissioners argued, however, that there is nothing illegal about lying on a stack of chips, using prescription drugs or, under some circumstances, having more than one wife.

"If both (parties) agree the ads are not deceptive and are not obscene and do not entice illegal conduct, what authorizes the sanctions," Bernhard asked rhetorically.

Further, they said, there is nothing illegal about depicting such activity and that censoring such advertising would violate constitutional protections for commercial free speech.

Hard Rock owner Peter Morton, who was reluctant to discuss the specifics of the case, said he remains a strong believer in the power and importance of the First Amendment.

Related Stories:
·   New Hard Rock billboard: a cartoon cat, two rabbits, and a wood chewing beaver [HotelChatter]
·   First Amendment Issue with Hard Rock Ads [HotelChatter]
·   Hard Rock Advertising Draws Censorship From State Board [HotelChatter]

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Author Photo: johnkeats by johnkeats

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