Praetor

The dreaded holidays are here again. Yes, I know it is supposed to be a happy time, a relaxing time, a time of good will. Unfortunately we try to find happiness in a bottle, we can’t relax without the help of liquor, we only show good will to someone who gives us a drink. What is the end result? Accidents! People land in hospital, are maimed and the “lucky” ones die.

The TV is playing its part in this new culture. Since last Christmas the liquor adverts on TV has gone on unabated. The last two months it has picked up. From early to late you are invited to make a choice of your favoured brand. If you look carefully you will see a white band at the bottom of your screen saying that we should drink responsibly, drinking and driving kills, not for persons under 18 years of age. Do you seriously think that makes any impact at all? I wonder if anybody sees it, if they do, do they read it? If I wasn’t so concerned about the impact of liquor adverts on the lives of people, I probably would also have ignored it.

Great was my surprise to see that the ANC Youth League actually agree with me. Surprised because my world-view and theirs differ vastly. The only problem is that they have adopted an extreme standpoint. They want to ban all advertisements and close all liquor outlets after a certain hour, stop all sales on a Sunday. I can live with the last two, but what the Youth League don’t take into consideration is the vested interests of the liquor companies. They are unconcerned about the impact on children and teenagers. They say all the right things, but their action speak so loud nobody can hear what they are saying. If their adverts did not lead to higher liquor sales, why advertise? It would be bad policy to continue an activity at such tremendous cost (advertising during peak time must cost a packet) if it did not bring in lucrative rewards. More liquor sales, more drinking, higher chances of driving under the influence, the higher chances of making (fatal) accidents. The tragedy is that people who do not drink during the year, may indulge during this “festive”  season and fall victim to an accident, a fatal one.

The SABC and e-tv are also more concerned about their profits than the effect these liquor adverts have on the lives of people. Trying to get them to change their policy on liquor adverts is a futile effort. They have Board members, CEO’s and senior staff members to pay handsome salaries. [They try to save money by showing us the same films over and over again. For a change of spice they dig up some (very) oldies out of the archives. You can only watch the same film so many times before it becomes real boring]. So liquor adverts are a very lucrative source of income!

It is quite disturbing to me that few people seem to care about the liquor adverts. They are silent. I have however also learned that the pen is mightier than the sword; the newspaper editor is mightier than the politically incorrect correspondent. They say we have a democracy. Unless you have a platform to speak from, you don’t have a voice in the public media if they don’t like what you are saying.

I trust that in your part of the world things are not so gloomy or do you also brighten it with a cognac.