The use of alcohol is a major aspect of our society. It is used in religious ceremonies, during socialization, and its presence is seen everywhere. Second only to caffeine, more people drink alcohol than any other substance. It appears in many forms such as beer, wine, and hard liquor. It has been praised, denounced, accepted, and outlawed in the past century alone.

The effects of alcohol are numerous. From drunk driving accidents to fetal alcohol syndrome, from liver disease to the increased chance of sexually transmitted disease, alcohol's reach is widespread. Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the United States (McGinnis, p. 2208). As well, 41% of all traffic fatalities, the leading cause of accidental death, are alcohol-related (NHTSA, sec 4. p.1).

Underage drinking is a major problem in our society. Thirty-four percent of all high school seniors have had a drink in the past month (Johnston, p. ). As well, 1.2 million of these seniors are binge drinkers. (CASA, 1997). In eight grade, 1 million students admit they have been drunk (CASA, 1997). In 1996, nine million drinkers were under the age of t

HHS, "Youth and Alcohol: A National Survey. Drinking

In professional sports programming, it is worse. In the Superbowl, we can watch two different kinds of beer have their own variation of football in the "Bud Bowl." Alcoholic commercials constitute seven percent of advertisements in sports programming (Madden, p. 297-9). And this does not include the imbedded advertisements. In the stadiums, entire walls are devoted to a brand of beer. The proud makers of one brand of beer brought this game to you while their competing brand is bringing you the scoreboard. If you go down to the First Union Center you can hag out at its very own microbrewery after the game.

When you look at exactly which age group is watching television programming, you then have to consider exactly whom the television industry is pointing their advertisements at. Television shows such as Dawson's Creek and Beverly Hills 90210 are aimed predominantly at teenagers for their audiences. Many times they advocate abstinence of habit-forming substances to teenagers. However, once these shows stop for commercials, those same teenagers are bombarded with advertisements for Budweiser and numerous other alcoholic drinks.

Johnston, L.D., O'Malley, P.M., & Bachman, J.G. (1998).

Covell, K. "The appeal of lifestyle advertisements for

A very large chunk of a television program is its commercials. They praise this soft drink because its taste is richer than the other brand, these potato chips because they are not as greasy and have less fat than that other brand and these khakis because, hey, people can swing dance in them.

{JAMA}, Vol. 270, No. 18, 11/10/93, p. 220

The most popular place for alcohol advertisements is in sports. Throughout stadiums you can see thousands of men with a beer in one hand and cheering on their team with another. Colleges denounce drinking on campus and insist they do everything they possibly can do to halt it as a problem on campus' across America, but in college sports on television there are 1.2 commercials per hour (Madden, p. 297-9)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1774
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)