Rovers Return worse than any drink advert
While it seems in vogue to beat up on sports organisations about this, the impact of TV seems largely ignored.
Television is the most powerful, and consequently the most expensive, vehicle through which to propagate a message. Advertisers buy slots of 30 seconds duration, but TV soaps can hold the stage for 30 minutes at time.
Soaps attract huge viewing figures. In every single show, life revolves around a pub whether it is the Rovers Return, the Queen Vic or McCoys.
Even a cursory glance - and bear in mind a lot of families, including young children, watch hours of these shows every week - would suggest that life in these ‘villages’ is only about one trip to the pub followed by another.
Surely this does more to influence impressionable young people than any advert ever could. To drink during and after work every weekday and all weekend, as the soaps portray, is a lifestyle that is never preached by health gurus or politicians.
Most people stick on a kettle when the ads come on - yet ads remain our main concern.
If we are really to deal with the problem of alcohol abuse, we first need to look at the way we allow ourselves to remain ensconced in this serial TV portrayal.
Brendan Coffey
3 College Green
Maynooth
Co Kildare
