hpdw

In UK the government is concerned about too many gambling ads .
That's a headline topic on sky news today .They say it's affecting children around 11 -16 .

You will know by now smoking advertising is a thing of the past .

So here I go again about alcohol advertising .

I have been over this before on here and saw mixed opinions .

Not only is alcohol heavily advertised but it is made to look like an integral part of being happy , its cool ,its delicious ,its sexy ,its even in one ad on Tia-Maria Mysterious .

I wonder how alcohol ads affect our children .

biminiblue

When I was a youngster and TV was new...(ahem) they couldn't show people drinking alcohol on TV - I'm not sure (don't remember) if there were alcohol ads, but there were cigarette ads: doctors recommended certain brands of cigarettes.

Those were the days.

I agree with you, lots of stuff wrong with a capitalistic society. Too many things. I just tune it out by not watching network TV, not buying printed materials that have advertising in them - and most importantly, not buying alcohol or cigarettes.

Zanna

I'm in the UK and in all honesty, the government are only concerned about themselves and what makes money for them and their rich pals. I imagine you can guess I don't vote Tory!

soberandhonest

I don't favor prohibiting advertising. Restrictions that prevent the targeting of children or the like are, of course, fine with me. I think it is on all of us as a society to educate ourselves and our children. One of the (many) great things of sobriety is that I can show my kids another path.

Gonnachange

T59, IMHO the lifestyle a parent leads is more influential upon his or her child than ads. Are the ads effective to some degree? They must or there wouldn't be the tremendous amount of money spent promoting such products, but solid adult home role models combined with a sensible peer group will steer most kids in the right decision. I'm not implying that there should be no restrictions on companies. Having written that, I also think that it would be abnormal for a teenager not to have a smoke or a drink. Why? Because they're teenagers. And yes, I'm writing as a parent of two grown children.

hpdw

Zanna ,not a Tory either .

Gonnachange I get the teenager bit we can,t watch them round the clock. I am more attuned now with my grandchildren all boys ,8 ,10, 13 about the dangers of cigs drugs drink . They have good role model parents so one can only hope they chose wisely . I don't believe banning alcohol ads stops kids trying a drink at some point i,m just baffled why smoking and now potentially gambling has been targeted .

Forward12

Just my guess, but I think it comes down to the nature of how people use each. With smoking, most either hate it and don't smoke, or smoke every day, with a small percentage that only do so occasionally, which has led to massive health problems and cost to insurance companies and taxpayers.
Alcohol on the other hand is on the flip side where most only drink occasionally and moderately, where only a small number are abusers/alcoholics.
Advertising had no influence on me at all to drink, I kept drinking because I'm an alcoholic. Heck, I don't think I ever saw an ad once for the brands I drank.
I think the most proactive thing is to take a direct approach and let them know the dangers of alcohol, and the family history of it's destruction.

JT79

I've always thought that the best way to deal with drugs/alcohol was to have it be legal, regulated and unpromoted. I can see including gambling in that as it is obviously also a potentially addictive behavior for many.
As mentioned above, the advertising industry wouldn't be worth billions if it wasn't working. And how do you stop children from being targeted without a ban? If it's on TV, on the Web, on the billboard, then kids are going to be exposed - and they are going to be much easier to influence.

Outonthetiles

Do what I did and get rid of your telly. It makes a world of difference.

Gonnachange

Outonthetiles, I'm not a big TV watcher, even if one did as you did the kids would still be exposed at their friends' houses at a minimum. And sometimes being too heavy handed back fires. When my two nephews, who are now in college, were young their mother was a dictator about sugar intake. Zero candy as in nada with maybe the exception of a piece or two on Halloween. The result was that the boys would sneak candy whenever they could and once they became old enough, around middle school, to not be under her watch 24 hours a day they honed their pursuit of the "forbidden fruit." They still exhibit that behavior to some degree. I can cite many other similar examples.

I'm in no manner equating candy with smoking, drugs, or alcohol. My point is that even young kids don't live in a complete bubble and they are going to be exposed to things that could potentially lead them to make poor choices. Better to teach them how to deal with that so they can evaluate and make good choices as they get increased independence.

Clearly a topic that is worthy of conversation with no easy answer.

hpdw

Sarcastic alert : I will get rid of the telly once X factor is finished .

I don,t watch too much TV either mostly because there,s not much to watch .

Were actually going through some old Taggart re-runs .

SimplyFree

Not much of a tv person...I watch football during its season some, but it is difficult for me to just sit there. My mind always has something I need to discuss with myself.

DayTrader

As an alcoholic, I have no problem with alcohol advertising.

Alcohol is fine for what, 90% of the population? Some % close to 10 is what most experts agree are alcoholics.

For the non alkies, there's no real problem with booze, They can take it or leave it. Sure, they may get into some trouble but that's not because of an add. For the alkies like me, ads or no ads, I was going to drink. I didn't become alcoholic because of advertising and if ads are a "trigger" for me the problem isn't the ad itself but the fact that I'm not in recovery. In a recovered state ads will have no effect upon me.

Do they have an impact on kids? Sure they do. But so does every TV show they watch, every video game they play, every interaction with their parents (good and bad), their relationships at school, and their relationships with adults. It's part of growing up with the right tools, they can learn how to cope and handle those influences.

I'm grateful for all the pain my alcoholism brought to me and for all the trouble alcohol brought into my life. It was the key to me finally getting willing to do something drastic - recover - something I wouldn't have considered were it not for the state I was in due to my illness and my drinking.

ardy

Hi Thomas and all.. funny about ads.. they banned the ads that had cereal in them for kids and candy bars.. and stepped up the sex ads... the world is nuts.. go back to the cartoon ad with the happy camper and life was good.. sorry all be safe out there and know that so many are standing with you arm and arm..forever.. wisconsin