Earlier this morning when I was at the gym— you know, doing my thing—I happened to glance up at the television and saw something that really drove me completely nuts. I saw two women hoisting giant margaritas in the air. Now you must keep in mind it is 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning. Why are we drinking margaritas on television at 10 o’clock in the morning on a Wednesday? What type of message is this sending across the airwaves? To make matters even worse, while they were throwing back the margaritas, they were talking about places to take your children on these hot summer days.
Here is how this reads to me…
Wake up, pour yourself a drink, and then pile the kids in the car and head to the water park! Tequila!
First of all, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) 28 people a day each dies from drunk driving accidents. 28 people! If you do the math that’s 10,220 people a year, so raise your glass and drink to that.
Alcoholism is leading the pack when it comes to publicly funded rehabilitation. In 2008, 23 percent of the admissions ordered into treatment programs were solely because of alcoholism, and another 17 percent were because of alcohol and another intoxicant. In 2006, that cost taxpayers $223.5 billion—cheers!
Alcohol abuse in teenagers kills 4,700 people a year. How are we supposed to drive the idea home that drinking is dangerous and is acceptable for responsible adults if these kids are seeing these women drinking on national television at 10 in the morning. If you ask me, this is far from responsible. Bottoms up!
For me, the biggest concern is that this seems to be acceptable. It’s cute, it’s gimmicky, and people can relate to it. However, I feel that it is extremely dangerous when the media glorifies drinking when it is well documented that drinking is not only detrimental to your health, but it is also a public safety concern.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-booze; if you want to have a drink, go ahead and have a drink, all I ask of you is that you drink responsibly. I am sure those women on television aren’t getting loaded at 10 o’clock in the morning, but how many people are at home throwing back with them day after day in what they call “happy hour”? A mimosa with a Sunday brunch is one thing, but day drinking on a Wednesday morning may be a sign of a significant drinking problem.
