Well about the most popular TV programme in U.K is the soap opera Eastenders which for the information of anyone not in the UK is all about the life of a community based around a pub.
it's on 4 times a week andwe see all the characters coming in and out of this pub and getting regularly "wasted"!
Like for vegibean watching Eastenders made me feel normal-they drink every single day in that programme yet apparently according to statistics in real life "normal" people don't.
These programmes make us feel that it is normal to be drinking all the time and at the slightest problem they get a drink(and it often magically solves the problem too).
If those characters were drinking in real life as much as they are seen to in the programme they certainly would not look like they do-they would be fat, have red blotchy faces and big bags under their eyes. Apparenly this has been pointed out to the makers of the programme and their response was that "it's just television" and they expect people to make the difference between fiction and reality.
Personally I think that's a bit of a weak excuse!