Works for me
Alcohol as a societal ill / advertising
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Gavin Scott
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- Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.16
- Location: Edinburgh
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I've been in a beer commercial. Three, actually. Just "background artist" you understand (not to be confused with the plain old "extras" making up the numbers).
I'm sure I've told the stories before - but they were super strict about not being seen standing in groups of less than 3 (two people shouldn't enjoy alcohol as that links booze to sex, and someone on their own mustn't be seen as a drinker). So they get away with it by having the couples and singles in a shot (of a nightclub, for example), not having a drink in their hand or being within 6 feet of the bar. The only ones in frame enjoying their lager were in a group of, in this case, five men. And one of the commercials in the series was all about enjoying watching sport with a drink - I guess that's a bit like how I will buy a Twix with my Diet Coke.
A pal I don't see much any more was a bit of an old rummy. He complained often that booze commercials made it all seem too appealing for him to resist, despite there never being a shot of one man with 8 cans of Stella all for himself when he'd pop round for an evening visit to Gavin's house. Perhaps he was interpreting the ads that way.
To be fair, he was usually steaming.
I'm sure I've told the stories before - but they were super strict about not being seen standing in groups of less than 3 (two people shouldn't enjoy alcohol as that links booze to sex, and someone on their own mustn't be seen as a drinker). So they get away with it by having the couples and singles in a shot (of a nightclub, for example), not having a drink in their hand or being within 6 feet of the bar. The only ones in frame enjoying their lager were in a group of, in this case, five men. And one of the commercials in the series was all about enjoying watching sport with a drink - I guess that's a bit like how I will buy a Twix with my Diet Coke.
A pal I don't see much any more was a bit of an old rummy. He complained often that booze commercials made it all seem too appealing for him to resist, despite there never being a shot of one man with 8 cans of Stella all for himself when he'd pop round for an evening visit to Gavin's house. Perhaps he was interpreting the ads that way.
To be fair, he was usually steaming.
From QI: "The banning of tobacco advertising was actually beneficial to the cigarette industry because it freed up resources they were spending on something they didn't really need..." I see the logic in this argument - faggers are faggers and will buy fags whether they're advertised or not.
New generations of faggers are indoctrinated not by adverts on billboards which their short attention spans don't notice, but by the "cool" kids at the back of the bus or by the naughty kid stealing one or two of their parents' / uncle's / grandmother's supply. Seasoned smokers will have their own brand that they like and rarely try others unless out of financial need. Therefore, tobacco advertising and sponsorship was largely meaningless and useless.
Alcohol advertising is much the same for similar reasons. At the extreme end of my exploration into other flavours, I tend to drink cider in the summer, bitter and ale in the winter, Peroni or Bud with Italian meals and Jamesons or Penderyn wysgis at the end of the night; but usually my default drink is (as some on this forum may know) real ales or Guinness. No amount of flash advertising will ever make me drink (to use the examples) Archers, Heineken, Bacardi etc. And I imagine it's the same for a lot of people. Whereas cola is cola, coffee is coffee, tea is tea and corn flakes are corn flakes, alcohol types are very very specific to individual tastes. As such, you usually choose from a very limited selection; and adverts are more about promotion of the brand (marketing) than enticing custom.
Also, associating a particular kind of alcohol with a particular social setting is ludicrous. It made me wail with laughter seeing a whole pub drinking Bud in one World Cup - themed advert. We all know the staple diet of the typical In-Ger-Lund fan is Stella or Carling. Plus the cost of Bud out of the bottle (330ml) when compared to a pint of piss from the pump is considerably higher.
Personally I don't think alcohol is a societal ill. It has helped produce some of our greatest artistic and cultural icons. And destroy them too, I grant you; but then current alcohol consumption is just following a trend in society as a whole - we consume a hell of a lot more of more than we ever have. The human race has survived several thousand years drinking fermented liquid from fruit and grain. Personally, lack of education, lower moral and intelligence standards, lower tolerances and narrower selfish views are much more troubling for our society at present. Alcohol may be an exacerbating contributory factor to these, but it is only the catalyst, not the original problem.
New generations of faggers are indoctrinated not by adverts on billboards which their short attention spans don't notice, but by the "cool" kids at the back of the bus or by the naughty kid stealing one or two of their parents' / uncle's / grandmother's supply. Seasoned smokers will have their own brand that they like and rarely try others unless out of financial need. Therefore, tobacco advertising and sponsorship was largely meaningless and useless.
Alcohol advertising is much the same for similar reasons. At the extreme end of my exploration into other flavours, I tend to drink cider in the summer, bitter and ale in the winter, Peroni or Bud with Italian meals and Jamesons or Penderyn wysgis at the end of the night; but usually my default drink is (as some on this forum may know) real ales or Guinness. No amount of flash advertising will ever make me drink (to use the examples) Archers, Heineken, Bacardi etc. And I imagine it's the same for a lot of people. Whereas cola is cola, coffee is coffee, tea is tea and corn flakes are corn flakes, alcohol types are very very specific to individual tastes. As such, you usually choose from a very limited selection; and adverts are more about promotion of the brand (marketing) than enticing custom.
Also, associating a particular kind of alcohol with a particular social setting is ludicrous. It made me wail with laughter seeing a whole pub drinking Bud in one World Cup - themed advert. We all know the staple diet of the typical In-Ger-Lund fan is Stella or Carling. Plus the cost of Bud out of the bottle (330ml) when compared to a pint of piss from the pump is considerably higher.
Personally I don't think alcohol is a societal ill. It has helped produce some of our greatest artistic and cultural icons. And destroy them too, I grant you; but then current alcohol consumption is just following a trend in society as a whole - we consume a hell of a lot more of more than we ever have. The human race has survived several thousand years drinking fermented liquid from fruit and grain. Personally, lack of education, lower moral and intelligence standards, lower tolerances and narrower selfish views are much more troubling for our society at present. Alcohol may be an exacerbating contributory factor to these, but it is only the catalyst, not the original problem.
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tillyoshea
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Sun 23 Nov, 2003 14.34
- Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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Balance has a pretty good advertising campaign on the subject of alcohol advertising here in the North East.
Balance was set up to emulate Fresh, who are credited with much of the success in taking the North East from being the region with the highest proportion of smokers and the lowest quit rate, to the one with the UK's fastest falling prevalence of smokers.
Balance was set up to emulate Fresh, who are credited with much of the success in taking the North East from being the region with the highest proportion of smokers and the lowest quit rate, to the one with the UK's fastest falling prevalence of smokers.