Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.—Barbara De Angelis
Could a beer company have an answer to one of humanity’s oldest questions?
“What do women want?”
On most days I would respond to that question with a cynical, “Hell if I know,” and keep going. Most intelligent men know better than attempting to answer a question they can never hope to get correct. Every woman is different and, therefore, is going to have different desires and wants than the one sitting next to her. There’s no one desire that is universal to them all. Besides, “you can’t please everyone,” is another platitude with which we are all well aware. We should know the futility of trying to please women.
However, a study of premium beer drinkers between the ages of 21-35 showed that knowing your limit, drinking in moderation rather than getting shit-faced, passed-out drunk has a certain coolness factor. Millenials prefer hanging out with people who don’t let their drink define them. Women, especially, prefer partners who remain sober throughout the evening. So, the good folks over at Publicis Italy, a division of Publicis Worldwide, used that information as the basis for a new ad for a client very involved in the subject of over drinking: Heineken.
This isn’t the first time Heineken has taken on the subject of responsible drinking. Two years ago, their “Drink Less, Dance More,” campaing featuring DJ Armin Van Buren, examined how a DJ that keeps people dancing reduces the amount of drinking in a Miami night club.
Nuno Teles, CMO of Heineken USA told AdWeek, “Responsibility is becoming an active and attractive choice for a motivated generation who want to stay in control.”
This opens up the question of whether millennials are learning from the sins of their parents and correcting their bad habits. While we might like to give the generation some credit for doing better than we did, the numbers aren’t necessarily flattering.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) keeps track of binge drinking. While the problem is not unique to males, nor to millennials, there are some specific challenges needing to be addressed. Consider this list of disturbing facts:
- 70% of binge drinking episodes involve adults age 26 years and older.
- Men are twice as likely to binge drink as are women.
- Most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependents, or what we might commonly refer to as “drunks.”
- Binge drinking is for the upper middle class and higher, those with over $75,000 in annual income.
- Roughly 90% of those under 21 who drink are involved in binge drinking.
- Binge drinkers are more likely to drive drunk.
- More than half the alcohol consumed in the US is done in the form of binge drinking.
The problem is so significant that a number of colleges and universities now have departments and facilities set up to deal with the issue and some have even banned certain fraternity activities in an attempt to reduce the amount of binge drinking on campus.
With a problem so very big, is one ad enough to make a significant change in the problem? That’s difficult to say. While the campaign started in 30 worldwide markets this week, it would take an immense amount of targeting and a more significant than usual budget to get the ad in front of the right eyes enough times for the message to sink in. The ad uses a soft, subtle visual backed by a popular, pounding soundtrack. Young men are notoriously thick-headed (I know because I’m still that way). We can’t expect them to get the message without seeing the ad several times, possibly in the company of young women who point out the commercial’s purpose.
Still, we have to applaud Publicis Italy and Heineken for at least taking on the issue, especially going into the Super Bowl and Spring Break, both of which are notoriously heavy drinking times for college-age students. Here’s the ad. Feel free to share with someone who might benefit from paying attention.
Morning Update: 06/04/24
My alarm is wonky. Jack Jack decided not to wait until 7:00 to wake me this morning. No, he woke me at 6:30 with a series of serious headbutts to let me know that he and his compatriots needed to be fed now. I complied, of course, but then went right back to bed and back to sleep. I’m not sure the dogs so much as moved. I didn’t sleep all that well last night anyway, so getting up earlier than necessary this morning wasn’t going to happen.
Kat wanted to stop by and see our friend Jenni at Fat Cat last night, so I walked down there to meet her. Jenni asked if I’d done anything productive. My answer was no, which will be my answer from here on out even if I manage to stay busy. Sure, Tipper and I walked to the Speedway to get milk and I did re-process a number of pictures, but were either of those actions productive? Not in the sense of doing anything that matters to society. Chemo has made me largely useless from a social perspective. I can sit here and type and complain and do things with pictures, but at the end of the day, none of it matters.
I responded to a request from my endocrinologist asking how my glucose levels were doing. I didn’t hear anything back. I sent a message to my patient advocate about my insurance and didn’t get as much as an acknowledgment from them. So, I’m still waiting.
There was a situation at the Speedway that bothered Tipper a bit. As we were checking out, the store manager saw a man rummaging through the trash outside. She and the one male employee quickly went outside to run him off. He objected, loudly, and raised a bit of a fuss. As Tipper and I left, we stayed off to the side so as to not attract any unwanted attention. Tipper was concerned and we walked quickly to the corner and across the street. The traffic light worked in our favor and we were across Lafayette before the man could catch up. For much of the rest of the way home, she kept looking back over her shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed.
Tipper explained that men like that are the reason she won’t go anywhere by herself. In this city or any other for that matter, that’s a wise move. We’ve created an environment where women of any age cannot safely travel alone without significant experience in hand-to-hand combat, and even then, they face substantial risks. But can she realistically expect there to always be someone to accompany her?
Take, for example, going to school this fall. She can catch the same bus as her brother going to the transit center, and then her boyfriend, Gio, will meet up with her there for the rest of the trip to school (Tipper’s going to the main campus while G is off campus at the micro-school). What happens, though, if either her brother or Gio isn’t going to school one day? One could be ill, away on a field trip, or have an e-learning day for some reason. What does she do then? Is she safe going to school by herself?
Yeah, I’m gonna worry. I’m not sure what reasonable precautions we can take.
It was more than eight hours later when I walked back down to the bar to meet Kat. The same guy was still there at the intersection. He had his shirt off now, a half-empty bottle in his back pocket, and was inebriated enough that he couldn’t manage to cross the street. He tried to tell me how he, his dad, and his brother, used to live “right here” in the neighborhood, long ago, when the bar was under a different name. He’s a regular outside all the businesses in the area. Kat has witnessed him being thrown out of other convenience stores as well. His life seems to be a series of poor choices, choices which the bottle would indicate that he’s continuing to make.
I’d like to think that maybe someone tried to help him once before, help him get treatment for his alcoholism and whatever else plagues him. There are any number of reasons why he’s on the street. Maybe he’s the person who lives in the tent under the nearby bridge, by the creek. G’s been by there often on his way home, and is sure someone is living there, but has never seen the occupant. Everyone dodges him, and everyone judges him. Yet, he’s still human. He deserves some compassion, doesn’t he?
This is the world we’ve created, one where people on the fringes of society, for whatever reason, are cast aside. We assume they put themselves where they are with a series of bad choices, and for some, that’s likely true, but we know there are plenty of exceptions as well and we won’t know who the exceptions are unless we interact with them. We have to take some risks.
As I’m sitting here typing, I’m thinking of Bill Levin and the First Church of Cannabis. Bill has a lot of detractors, especially within the city government, but he and his church members are doing something no one else is: having a positive impact on homelessness in the city. More than anyone else, they’re out there partnering with Hearts In Hands Homeless Outreach providing food (which drives city officials nuts), blankets, and basic life necessities, including food and medical care for homeless pets. If they meet someone that they can realistically help get off the street, they do so. The City of Indianapolis makes that task as difficult as possible, but Bill has been determined to make a difference.
We need more people like Bill who are willing to take that chance. Maybe I need to be one of those people. I’m not planning on doing any walking today or tomorrow, but the next time I’m out, I’ll be looking. If nothing else, maybe I’ll ask Bill for help. Maybe you could, too.
Okay, time for me to get on with my unproductive day. I’m feeling some pressure in my chest, some fogginess in my head, some pain in my arms. I’m not sure how much of the day I’ll be able to remain upright. I’ll do what we can, though.
Maybe the dogs will find me entertaining.
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