I am upset about an advertisement in the Houston Chronicle that appeared on the last page of the Sunday edition of Lifestyle section of the newspaper. This is my favorite section of the paper. It has the things that appeal to me such as fashion, movie listings, puzzles, Anne Landers and such. I usually save this section for the very last because it is the one I enjoy the most. Now the advertisement that I found so upsetting was a full page advertisement for Sauza Tequila. This page states the following: “This Labor Day weekend, kick back with some ice gold Sauza Margaritas or Shots. Fresh Margaritas? Tequila Shots? Not being at work? There may be a better combination of three things somewhere, but we doubt it? Happy Labor Day.” Way up in the top right hand column were the words DRINK RESPONSIBLY. The pictures and the rest of the advertisement overshadowed these words.
Reading this makes me think that the only way to enjoy the Labor Day holiday is to drink alcohol. And it is a source of irritation to me that this advertisement is acceptable because of these words “drink responsibly”.
I was appalled that this was in a section of the paper that I believe a lot of young people read. I know that it is my daughter’s favorite section.
So I thought I would Google “alcoholism facts”and this is what I discovered. My Google search indicated that there are 1,550,000 sites. So I looked at several and they all basically said the same thing. I decided to list information from the first site that popped up first and it was this site: http://www.medicinenet.com.
In the United States 17.6 million people or 1 in every 12 adults abuse alcohol or are dependent on it. (This sure does sound like a lot of people to me.) Alcohol problems are highest amount 18 – 29 year old and lowest among 65 year old people. People start drinking at an early age 14 or younger. The earliest age I saw was age 12. There is research that indicates that alcoholism may be genetic and does run in families but other factors also contribute such as friends, stress and that it is readily available. (I know that my son received a bottle of whiskey from his friends for his 21st birthday. I also think his friends gave him another bottle of booze for Christmas. Some friends, if you ask me.) By the way, there is no cure for the disease of alcoholism.
It seems irresponsible to me to place this add on the last page of the section of the paper that I feel many young people read. I think that people start drinking at such an early age because this drug is so readily available – just look in the refrigerator and cabinet of most homes. Also, with the economy so bad and people experiencing a lot of stress today may contribute to the possibility of people abusing this drug.
What can I do about this article? Not much since it has already appeared in the paper. But I sure do feel better about writing about it in my blog. What do you think? Do newspapers have some sort of responsibility in what is advertised or is it only about the money?
Reflections 