Sergetalks Blog ~ The Official Blog of Serge LeClerc

As we looked at the mind meld by the alcohol industry via the media advertisements aim at young people to pick out a brand of beer or alcohol before they are old enough to drink, you must remember to juxtaposition this effort to the reality of the developmental life cycle and the creation of identity – and its importance for this age group. When you do, then the reasons that young people gave for drinking – and for being the heaviest drinking group of young people in our country’s history – give insight to the absolute effectiveness of the campaign by the alcohol industry.

Young men, before the legal age of being able to drink, gave as their number one reason for drinking; that when they got to a party where their friends were at that they didn’t want their friends to think they were a ‘geek’ or a ‘wimp’ – ‘not cool’. I want you think of it this way – young men on the way to manhood, gave as the number one reason that they drink something that taste like ‘horse-pee’ was so that their friends didn’t think they were ‘unmanly’ ……wonder where they got the idea that not drinking was unmanly? And the number one reason that girls gave; well it really was more like two reasons – 87% of teenage girls who drank below the legal age limit to drink said that they drank because their boy friend drank and 83% of the girls who said they didn’t drink had a boy friend who didn’t drink – and for the girls that drank – the highest number of teenage girls who drink in the history of North America – all below the legal age of drinking – they said that they did so because they were unsure of themselves; weren’t sure whether they were outgoing enough, pretty enough, smart enough ….. and that they needed a few drinks to let their real selves come out! (more…)

In following the theme that I have been speaking to: media manipulation of our youth to mass market products through the TV commercial advertisements and the ever increasing use of alcohol by this current generation; let me state quite clearly that as a dirty-down-low drug dealer in the early part of my life, I was most likely more truthful and ethical than the alcohol industry and the TV industry and their corporate business people in their knowing promotion to our youth of a brand of alcohol before they are old enough to drink – well knowing that it is without a doubt the number 1 social problem of our time. At least as an uncaring and immoral drug dealer, I never lied to anyone and told them that they would be more popular, better looking, have a much better time at a party or get the guy or girl of my dreams! I never attempted to manipulate a youth into thinking their identity would be better if they used a powerful narcotic – I just told them that I sold good dope that would get them high.

The advertisers, and the corporate head office, knowingly target youth before they are even old enough to drink to pick out a particular brand within the alcohol industry – to create a brand loyalty so that when they are old enough, or can sneak some, will gravitate to a particular brand by the ‘identity’ associated with the brand. They project young men being able to ride a horse, muscles rippling in their forearms, hair flowing out behind them in the wind, and when they dismount from the horse, all rugged and macho, beautiful women flock around them and find them sexually appealing because they are ‘a bud man’. They project young women in being able to wear a skimpy bikini, be able to slink down to a beach, have not an ounce of fat or a pimple, and some young guy who looks like ‘Leonardo DePunko’ will fall magically in love with the girl because she drinks ‘the silver bullet light’. They spend billions of dollars on these commercials because they work – not because they do not work – and the proof of that is the starling alcohol consumption by this current generation! (more…)