Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Public Health Ads are Propaganda Ads

Has anyone seen the new TV commercial that ends by displaying the slogan "Buzzed driving is drunk driving"? I guess it's not really an advertisement--a PSA, perhaps, although the "service" part is dubious at best. Propaganda it is, however. Anyone who is not sheltered in some way from experience with non-abstainers will know the difference between being buzzed and being drunk. Sure, they are vague terms, but that doesn't make them interchangeable. The message conveyed by this conflation of terms is the conflation of mostly responsible use ("buzzed" driving) with mostly irresponsible use ("drunk" driving). As if the alcohol problems in this country arose out of making too many subtle distinctions!

Broadcast-balderdash aside, this is just one more way that we all are punished for the foolishness of some. Because some people get behind the wheel with .25 BAC and kill a family of four (see the headlines), the rest of us are threatened with jail if we drive with a .08. Because many otherwise reasonable people choose to ignore this silly law, we (and more importantly our children) are subjected to absurd PSAs that encourage us to sort drinkers into two categories: totally sober and totally wasted. No sense making fine distinctions. Listen up, kids. Here's what you need to know about alcohol: state law tells you whether or not you are responsible. Not your parents, your friends, or even your own experience can tell you at what age you can taste a beer, when you've had too much, or when you should get behind the wheel of a car. Responsibility is so last century--now we have laws.

2 Comments:

Blogger Shane Murphy said...

this is just one more way that we all are punished for the foolishness of some

Not me, I don't drink, I don't drive, and I don't have a TV so as to be subjected to such absurdities. The only absurdities I run into are around the office. I guess the fact that I don't drink, drive, or own a TV could be seen as absurd, too.

5:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

haha... ur my teachur

11:49 AM  

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