I was completely agitated when I turned on my television set a couple evenings ago and saw an advertisement which I immediately deemed to be unfit and lawless by the Blue Iguana Nightclub inviting persons to come to ‘the Alcohol Party’. Now mind you, I had my seven year old son sitting next to me. Luckily, at his age, he has been taught that alcohol is harmful which can lead to someone dying and he also attended a seminar about substance abuse during one of his extra curriculum activities. As a parent, you try to embed certain teachings and standards in your child/children.
I am not hitting anyone here but not too long ago, the said nightclub held another party entitled ‘Blame it on the Alcohol’. Now you can’t be clearer than this: if you consume alcohol and whatever happens, you blame it on the alcohol. How responsible is this? There have been other disturbing themes such as: Come with your partner, leave with another (really the thought of this makes me sick, not because I am a Catholic but because it is morally wrong).
The musicians and lyrics in today’s music are so lewd, violent and influential that they capture the rapt attention of the young ones and because they are idolized, they adopt this behaviour, it is brainwashing them.
I object to a commercial where you have a woman dressed in scanty clothing gyrating to obscene music and a young child sees it. It is compromising to what he is taught. The mere point I want to get across is that, instead of trying to promote alcohol, curb it. Alcohol should not be sold to persons underage or whom the vendor suspects might be underage. There have been too many road accidents since the year started and I wish the nightclubs would stop using these themes to lure people to come.
I use this medium to urge promoters to be more sensitive to the public, when they use the airwaves for their commercials, children are looking.
S. BHOLA