100 Picket Spanish Network Over Brandy Ads : Broadcasting: Protesters say Telemundo’s spots, the only ones for hard liquor on the air, are harmful.

GLENDALE — More than 100 protesters picketed the offices of the second-largest Spanish-language television network in the United States on Thursday to try to stop it from airing Presidente Brandy ads.

The protesters, chanting, “El pueblo unidos jamas seran vensidos,”-- which means “The people united will never be defeated,”--marched in 100-degree-plus heat for more than an hour at the offices of Telemundo, the only TV network in the country airing ads for hard liquor.

“It is bad enough that we have beer and wine ads on television,” said Ray Chavira, a member of the Los Angeles Commission on Alcoholism. “They shouldn’t advertise hard liquor.”

Telemundo officials did not appear outside the building, which also houses Telemundo-owned station KVEA, during the protest and could not be reached for comment.

Organized by a coalition of 59 organizations, agencies and church groups, the protest was part of a nationwide boycott of the network, said Xavier Flores, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coalition for Responsible Advertising.

For more than a year, the groups have been battling the network and Dome Importers, the company that distributes the Mexican-made brandy, Flores said.

“The ads just inspire people to drink,” said picketer Diane Hernandez of Echo Park.

“If we don’t do something about it now, it opens the door to other liquor distributors,” said Solomon Rivera, director of youth programs for the Community Coalition of South Central Los Angeles.

Elmer Roldan, a teen-age protester, said the ads link Mexican heritage with the brandy and specifically target Latinos.

“They make it sound like drinking it is the only way to have fun at parties,” Roldan said.

“Why don’t they try this on an English-language station?” Rivera asked.

Telemundo airs the ads on its 53 broadcast affiliates located in such cities as New York, San Francisco, San Antonio and Phoenix as well as Los Angeles, Flores said.

The ads first aired locally in February, 1994, according to members of the groups.