GUEST VOICES: Why It’s No Longer Cool to Give Gifts of Booze

by Michael Scippa, Public Affairs Director, Alcohol Justice

With holiday gift-giving time upon us, we are being assaulted again by massive alcohol industry ad spends targeting shoppers with reasons why a bottle or can of overpriced Sonoma Valley sparkling wine, or a seasonally-flavored, high alcohol content, spirit-based concoction, or a four-pack of limited run “craft-brewed” Xmas ales would be appreciated by every adult on your gift list. The sale circulars are in the mail, and the announcements of big discounts at the big-box stores have been appearing in social media, your Sunday papers (remember them?), and snail-mail and email boxes. Then there are the cliché TV spots with bright and shiny young people, toasting each other with well-paid smiles around Xmas trees and fireplaces (shot sometime last summer) popping up all over cable and streaming channels (i.e. if you’re going to binge-watch something this holiday season, why not binge-drink something too?).

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