Children are regularly exposed to alcohol ads, study finds

*sigh*

Yes, they probably are.  They are also regularly exposed to advertisements for cars, furniture, perfume and  loads of other shit but does it follow that the kids are going to pine after those as well?

Off the cuff, I can only think of one advertisement that I have seen recently on television and that is for Coors which apparently is brewed up in the cold Rocky Mountains.  Apart from the fact that all Merkan beer is diluted gnat's piss, I can't see why I should be attracted to something that is supposed to be brewed in a mountain range a few thousand miles away.  Are the Rockies any colder or fresher than any other mountain range?  Leastwise I can put my hand on my heart and say I have never even contemplated buying Coors on entering a pub, so that ad is a massive failure.

The only advertisement that really sticks in my mind at the moment is that one for Virgin.  I notice it for two reasons.  Firstly they show a CGI generated lorry that is stupidly long and would be impossible to drive around a bend unless the wheels are on bogies, and secondly I cringe every time I see that Branson fucker leering at me from the cab.  Even if I were in range of their services, there s no fucking way I would switch to Virgin – that ad has put me off for life.

Anyhows, back to the alcohol.

Alcohol Action Ireland [yet another charity qango that has been set up to lobby the gubmint] has done their survey.  I would love to see the questions the kids were asked.  [“Do you think advertising will a) make you want to drink alcohol, b) make you want to binge drink or c) turn you into an alcoholic?”]. 

Like all their fellow qangos they fall into the assumption that somehow advertising forces people into things they don't want to do.  Do they seriously think that some kid is going to see a billboard on his way home from school and immediately rush to the nearest pub to order five large whiskeys?  How many winos in the gutters rue the day they saw that television advertisement back when they were a kid?

Of course Alcohol Action Ireland are going to demand that all alcohol advertising be removed as if that's going to solve anything.  [and why do these fucking lobby groups always have to call themselves Action something?]  They of course are going to declare that more funding research is required.

I have a much simpler solution.

Ban all advertising.  It is fucking ubiquitous and I swear if you stand still for more than a minute someone will plaster a poster on you.  Every mode of transport, building or street furniture has to scream at you about some tacky product.  It was reached the stage where television programmes interrupt the ads and radio is just as bad.

Ban it all.  Then no one can be accused of being swayed by any advertising and we'll all live a quieter life.

If they had taken that simple step I never would have bought that bra I saw on television the other night.

It doesn't suit me at all.