Liquor lobby and tv-series.

Whats up with all the booze I see people drink in TV-series. Yeah, I know it is probably tea instead of whiskey or whatever but does it not imply it is normal to fill up your glas (and the one of your guests) when you walk in the room?

Just like 'they' try to minimize smoking in films and tv productions it should be time that 'they' condition the onlooker that it is not part of normal life to make yourself a drink when you come home from....whatever.

I just finished watching Blue Bloods and it is ackward to see this (fictional) family of cops promoting a nice glass of something whenever they are off duty. The funny thing is that all the adults do it and I think it is not an excuse to say they are an Irish family. Try to notice when you watch your favorite show.

Can it be that there is a motivation of making money behind this tv behaviour or just to create alcoholics?

Try watching movies from the 30s through the 70s. Everybody who comes into a room lights up a cigarette and pours themselves some liquor...Not beer, not wine, but hard liquor. Even the movies with doctors show them guzzling booze and lighting cigarettes next to the patient's bed.

It went out of favor starting in the 80s but I guess it is making a come-back. Personally I think alcohol is an inferior buzz and it gives me a headache, so whatever the liquor lobby is trying to do, it won't work on me.

reply to post by zatara

You have a good point.
It's so shocking to see these chain smoking movie characters from the 1990s, and tobacco is now instantly noticeable and spurned, but booze is still socially acceptable.

Some older people tell me they are even more shocked, because smoking spliff or using various illegal drugs is now almost present in every second film or television series.

I'd say it depends if film is supposed to represent reality.
In that sense the use of alcohol is a reflection of society.

Here, they said all booze adverts would be banned (and they are already curtailed to certain hours).
But the use of alcohol is far more prevalent than tobacco.

People are tired of a "nanny state", or spoiling everybody's fun because a few addicts cannot control themselves.
A drink or two is not going to pollute the air or case harm in itself.

What next - people shouldn't eat fast-foods, or sugary food on television?

Perhaps we shouldn't show food in film because some people eat themselves to morbid obesity, and an early death at 29?

Alcohol prohibition has been tried before, and it didn't work.
As long as it's legal, and it's not branded, it reflects society, rather than causing alcoholism.

Since I've never liked coffee, I do wonder about those people drinking energy drinks and caffeine.
They have been linked to deaths.

I'd say nowadays it's less about the substance, but rather about how it is used in a social context.

As far as characterization goes in film, the character who smokes or drinks is unlikely to be a desirable character nowadays.
Take the movie "Traffic", for example: a whiskey swilling politician pushes anti-drug policies.

Now there's a great focus on how middle America accepts and celebrates violence, but it shuns porn and intoxicants.

reply to post by zatara


Or maybe it's just a mirror of a large percentage of the population that likes to drink? If I took a picture of my liquor cabinet I'm sure I'd look like a poster child for the liquor lobby.

Hmm..

Maybe if I actually offer to be the poster child for the liquor lobby they'd buy me booze for life? I think I'll write them an email.

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
Personally I think alcohol is an inferior buzz and it gives me a headache, so whatever the liquor lobby is trying to do, it won't work on me.

Alcohol isn't my thing either but the whole subliminal message must be intended for the ones with a latent craving for the stuff...like teenagers who associate themselves with what is cool or normal behaviour when you are succesful...or not.

Almost one day after starting this thread it surprises me how little response there is. Why is that...? Is it a boring topic, old news or is everybody so shocked that they are lost for words?

Come on people, give me some feedback...

I am not american and only have an idea about the american culture from what I see in US reality shows, tv-shows and breaking news items when something weird happens. Something weird like an O.J Simpson on the run or airplanes flying into buildings.

If I didn't know better everybody has a bottle of Jack Daniels waiting for his daddy to come home, it to be a screwed-up society where everybody wants to become rich and famous.