Portland observer., February 11, 1982, Page 6, Image 6

I
Page 6 Portland Observer, February 11, 1982
Alcohol is bad for your health
b.v Bonnie Seal
Alcoholism is becoming rampant
in American society, and one o f the
chief pushers is advertising.
One o f four American teenagers
is an alcoholic or problem drinker.
There are ten m illion alcoholics in
the United States. Sixty-two per cent
o f seventh graders and eighty per
cent o f twelfth graders have had al­
coholic beverages. These statistics
were quoted by media analyst and
advertising critic Jean K ilbourne,
who spoke on alcohol and the ads
last week at the U n ive rs ity o f
Portland.
Alcohol is the number one cause
o f death am ong persons age 15
through 21 through m otor vehicle
accidents, drow ning, murder, and
suicide. More than 400 people die in
alcohol related crashes every week,
Ms. Kilbourne said.
“ Advertising produces a psychic
num bing process that makes it
impossible to solve these problems
by establishing a clim ate in which
abusive d rin kin g seems norm al,**
she stated during her slide presenta­
tio n , U n d er the In flu e n c e : The
Pushing o f A lc o h o l Via A d ve rtis ­
ing.
Advertising encourages the abuse
o f alcohol by linking it with quali­
ties that are desirable in our society,
explained M s. K ilb o u rn e. “ These
tend to be the very qualities that are
diminished or destroyed through its
use.’’
Through slides o f magazine ads,
she showed how alcohol is paired
with athletic ability, sexual potency,
seduction, power, success, mascu­
lin ity and fu n , as well as th irs t­
quenching attributes.
“ A lcoh o l is seen as a necessary
part o f all celebrations,’ ’ but it is
never mentioned that 65 per cent o f
the murders, 40 per cent o f the as­
saults, and 35 per cent o f the rapes
in our country are associated with
alcohol, or that 24 per cent o f alco­
holic deaths are due to violent falls,
she emphasized. “ You never see the
hangover or unemployment statis­
tics.”
“ A dvertisin g depicts a w orld
where daily drinking is the n o rm ,”
said Kilbourne. “ It does not show
the other side o f the coin— that 60
per cent o f all psychotics have a
drinking problem , the suicide rate
fo r alcoholics is 58 times that o f
non-alcoholics, and that alcohol is
linked to murder, unemployment,
and accidents.
For pregnant women there is no
warning that alcohol is dangerous to
VALUES
Co
%tf, *
"Vr. ecfo
J E A N K ILB O U R N E
(Photo: Bonnie Seal)
the fetus, and the number o f birth
defects in this country has doubled
since World W ar II, she argued.
The ad industry spends over $900
m illio n a year on advertising, she
stated. This is over five times the
budget o f the N ational Institute on
A lcohol Abuse and Alcoholism o f
the U .S . D ep artm en t o f H e a lth ,
Education, and Welfare.
“ I f the money spent to advertise
alcohol, tobacco, and drugs were
taken away, one in every five maga­
zines would go out o f business,” ac­
cording to Ms. Kilbourne.
M edia sell their audiences to the
advertiser, M s. K ilb o u rn e ex­
plained. Reader and viewer demo­
graphics and psychographics tell ad­
vertisers about audience income and
alcohol consum ption, so they can
place ads where they w ill be the
most effective in selling the product.
“ A dvertisers use sophisticated
production techniques that are ex­
trem ely c are fu lly planned so that
nothing is u n in te n d e d .” A m ong
these are sublim inal methods that
appeal to readers on a subconscious
level. They include p o w erfu l
imagery intended to influence the
consumer to buy.
By becoming aware o f this
im agery in ads, we can make the
subconscious conscious, and m ain­
tain more control over their in flu ­
ence on us, she contends.
Ms. Kilbourne has been lecturing
to college audiences fo r several
years on the influence o f advertising
on the use o f alcoholic beverages.
She also does another slide show-
lecture combination on sexism and
the ads. She has been a writer, edi­
tor, teacher, and film -m a ke r, and
holds a doctorate in education from
Boston University.
She says her intention is neither to
give a tolerance lecture, nor to re­
form the advertising industry, but to
make people aware o f the influence
it has over lives and culture.
Management critical in restaurant business
Grassroot News, N . IF .— Dining
out is one luxury everybody can a f­
ford as long as your critique is the
Rustler on Union and Grand. This
environment is fostered by its peo­
ple-oriented owners and managers,
Danny and Lorraine Brown. Danny
Brown says, " W e advertise directly
to the family because we are an eco­
nomical place. W e provide a high
q u a lity dinner th a t’ s never above
$6.00 for two.”
Brown’s background in food ser­
vices is extensive, covering the West
Coast. “ I started as a troubleshoot­
er, which entailed going around to
restaurants which were having prob­
lems. The first thing I did was to
work as an hourly employee to find
out what the problem s were and
where they came from.
“ At this unit we had a help prob­
lem. A large turnover rate. In Octo­
ber o f ’79 I came in as an hourly em­
ployee because I wanted to be close
to my people. I wanted to make sure
everything was set on the assembly
line so that I w ouldn’t ask the im ­
possible. I could relate to what they
were saying. I wanted to make the
job easy for my employees. I wanted
them to work smart and not hard.”
Currently, Brown supervises the
day and night managers, along with
overseeing the entire operation. He
feels his obligation is to pass on his
expertise so his employees can retain
skills that can be used elsewhere.
Brown solved the problem o f the
high turnover at the RustleT by "re­
la tin g to the h o u rly em ployee’ s
needs. I f you have that dollar and
cents and people treat you badly, all
o f a sudden that money is not that
im p o rta n t. W e had a 350 per cent
turnover rate when I first got here
and now i t ’s down to 15 per cent.
You just have to match com bina­
tions in people.”
Brown explains his techniques.
“ W e d o n ’ t want to spend a lot o f
money on labor and our employees
We have a large selection of reconditioned TVs.
“Service is our specialty”
Trade in your old T.V. for
a reconditioned beauty!
8139 N. Denver • 285-1626
^ W ^ are °Pen from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day except Sunday.
E
X
O
D
U
S
1639 N .E.
.E. A lb erta
e rt*
PORTLAND. OREGÙN 9721 1
284 7997
Quadripartite
Mental - Fitness
Another four area relationship to be aware o f is the individual feelings derived
from:
(1) One’s sense o f security in private space. The Quantity and Quality o f that
space.
(2) One’s access to sustenance food and shelter Quantitatively and Qualitatively.
(3) One’s access to meaningful production, such as W ork, Job, Business and
Profession.
(4) One’s relationship to Sex, Children and Family Structures.
A ll four o f these Dimensions arc directly tied together as a whole, any one o f
these areas affected will automatically affect the performance in the other three.
Knowledge and understanding o f these relationships is in part what Ouadrioar-
tite Mental-Fitness is all about.
D an n y and L o rra in e B ro w n , o w n e rs o f th e R u stle r
direct their business to the fa m ily ,
understand that it’s a training exper­
ience. M y advice is to Blacks who
are interested in the restaurant busi­
ness but in the back o f their minds
they may feel that fo r too long
Black people have been in the
kitchen. This will cause many to put
the restaurant business down.
Just in reading the Observer a
couple o f weeks ago, “ Black man in
the kitchen,” it shows that cooking
franchise,
(Photo: R ichard J. B row n)
is a gourmet jo b — a high prestige
jo b . W hat you have to do is stick
with it. And remember that it pays
well. A good cook can make as high
as $30,000 a year and that’s not pea­
nuts. I t ’ s a learning in d exterity.
Basketball players can benefit be­
cause they need a jo b to support
their shoes and balls. Stick with the
restaurant business. It will take care
o f you, if you take care o f it.”
Praaentari M a comm unity aarvica by Houaa o f Eiodua