Recently published by the Executive Director of Éduc’alcool, the text “Updating prevention messages1 was almost inspiring. Was it an attempt to change the bitter taste left by Hugo Meunier’s documentary blow the ball2, posted just before the holidays, to improve Éduc’alcool’s image? Would its release have had a “negative” impact on consumption and sales?
Congratulations to Quebecers! They are a little less alcoholic than in the other provinces, and they are not among the worst drinkers in the world! But beware: the only safe drinking is abstinence, and any claim to the contrary is an illusion, motivated by money, or by anyone trying to make their own drinking feel guilty.
Of course, the effect of the first sip of alcohol is euphoric, almost magical, but it is only a mirage, which we will try to reproduce by adding more sips than necessary, more often as needed. Humans are lazy, they prefer instantaneous pleasures, including alcohol, which is sold to them as an instrument of well-being and socialization, with lots of advertising and contradictory messages, which promise almost infinite pleasure, in a sea of happy people who drink so moderately!
Quebecers drink a lot, and often, and this is due to accessibility, the social status of the good bottle, the chic of micro-breweries, the “discovery” of local alcohols. They are told that alcohol is a pleasure, that it is part of a healthy lifestyle.
Drinking and eating, pairing food and wine, all the occasions are good to open one, to have fun, to listen to each other. No, Éduc’alcool does not educate, it rids the guilt, first of all of the industry and then, well then, of consumers who are a little ashamed of their consumption, but who are only looking for an easy excuse to finally have a little drink. white with their “peanut butter toast”, or a good dark chocolate.
Alcohol was “gross” when we were young, but the industry has remedied that with alcoholic juices, so that anyone who doesn’t like alcohol finds a solution to this frowned upon sobriety. Sober people are only a painful control figure for those who drink, an image that reminds them that they have not known how to abstain. They bother, oh they bother. We insist on asking the sober person WHY he is sober, but who would dare to ask everyone else why they drink?
Éduc’alcool finds the words to reassure, to show that alcohol manufacturers are “responsible,” and these words trickle down to consumers, who allow themselves to be drawn into the sweet lie of moderation. It has even been said, without laughing, that the healthiest consumption is not zero. Pardon ?
Éduc’alcool is proud to receive only private funds from alcohol producers, boasts of devoting 85% of its budget to prevention and education, and of demonstrating self-regulation. This is a good thing ? Self-regulation in relation to what? The profits of industry? Sentences full of words, but whose meaning is awaited, or interpreted. It is time to demonstrate clarity, to avoid interpretation, vagueness, reference to individual responsibility. It is not enough to tell people to control themselves, after having convinced them that pleasure is necessarily associated with alcohol, that alcohol is part of a balanced lifestyle.
Hats off to the use of the word “science”, as it tends to inspire confidence. But science is also subject to interpretation, and the average citizen cannot do his own analysis without help, and this help should not be self-serving. As long as the SAQ brings in precious dollars to the state, and the state always asks for more, can we really believe what the organization it finances tells us about consumption?
My suggested slogan for 2023: “Not to drink at all, that’s okay. Not game! »