New NYC Anti-Drinking Campaign

I have to admit that I get a kick out of the new Anti-Campaign that New York City through the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has going on the trains. On a various of sites of which I will link to at the bottom of the post, people are ranting about how the Bloomberg administration is trying to act as a "nanny" over the citizens of NYC, how the victim is made to be the bad guy instead of the bars and stores that sell the alcohol, how the ads make gender generalizations and other arguments against the ads. While I think that the ads are somewhat hypocritical since the city and state (in theory) would stand to gain more in revenues due to taxation of excessive alcohol sales, I believe that they are fairly accurate. Why do I think that? I see it in practice five nights a week.

I see people come into the bar looking clean and sober and see their de-evolution due to drinking. You know what, its quite a depressing sight. I'm not saying that the person who has one, two or even three drinks in a responsible manner fits that mold. Far from it, but I do see the people that the ads are depicting on a nightly basis, shuffling to and from bars and restaurants like the zombies in a George Romero flick. While some might say that we are the enablers, my staff and I do our best to keep an eye out for those patrons who might be reaching what we believe to be their limit. By working the door we also try our best to keep out those people who we believe have had too much to drink. And as some of the articles that I posted show, people don't like to be told what to do.

I compare it to the legislation regarding seatbelts, helmets for motorcyclists and smoking in bars. While said legislation was enacted to make our lives safer it came with the protest of those it was meant to protect. Take the smoking ban for an example. I remember working in the bars in NYC and being surrounded for hours by a haze of smoke. While I thought the law was pushed on smokers, I would hate to have to go back to working in that environment. Even smokers admit that bars are better now that they don't have to smell and breath in all that second-hand smoke (well, they are less apt to saying that smoking on the streets during the Winter). Back to the booze.

I think there is an added dimension to the whole alcohol argument. The Noble Experiment known as Prohibition came and went in this country from 1919-1933 and in my opinion it failed miserably. There are many reasons why it failed, but I think the main reason was that many people saw drinking as a harmless vice and they were not going to be told when and where they could have a drink. First hand I know drinking is not a harmless vice. People that get excessively drunk put themselves in positions that they normally would not to. I believe that alcohol unleashes the inner person for either good or bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these Bible Thumping Carrie Nation Prohibitionists. I partake of a drink or two every once in a while. Heck, I've got as drunk as those who I turn away at work. But I personally know how excessive drinking can be harmful. From a father who was seriously injured in an accident while riding in a car with a group of drunk co-workers to having to endure the insults and the occasional confrontation with a drunk I have seen it and will continue to see what excessive drinking can do.

Who is to blame. Can blame really be placed? Sure you can blame the bar who serves the drinks. I'll admit, there are bartenders and bar managers who can be negligent in serving drinks for the sake of profits. At the same token, a patron who is turned away or cut off from drinking more can often times find somewhere else to do or resort to buying alcohol in a deli or grocery store. In a perfect and idealized world I think all sides involved would act "responsibly". Last I look we don't live in a perfect world.

Will the ads on the trains have any effect on the people the ads are targeting? Who knows. If it causes just one person to maybe re-evaluate their drinking then I guess the ads work. I'll get off of my soapbox now.

FH

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to See the New Health Department Camapign of the Dangers of Excessive Drinking
- Click Here to access Katherine Hobson's blogpost Are NYC Anti-Binge Drinking Ads on the Right Track? from the Wall Street Journal Blogs dated December 2, 2010
- Click Here for Billy Wharton's article NYC Health Department blames the victim in anti-drinking ads from the Examiner.com dated January 10, 2011
- Click Here to Access Andy Newman's blogpost Health Dept. Puts Up Holiday Anti-Drinking Decorations from the New York Times City Room Blog dated November 30, 2010