Molly Aitchison (March, NZ Baptist) writes well on her experiences with alcohol and gives some helpful advice.

Most New Zealanders, including many Baptists, do not understand how they have been “conned” by the alcohol promotion agenda. It is subtle, clever, often humorous, long-term advertising, portraying alcohol as fun, fun, fun, or a sophisticated way of life. This hides the truth .

On TV, although alcohol advertising is banned for certain times, other programmes portray alcohol in a positive way, on average, once every eight minutes. It is no wonder that we have been conditioned to regard alcohol as just another commodity and allow it to be advertised between the bread and the bacon.

It is not surprising that many Christians now have a lukewarm attitude to any moves to contain the alcohol industry. Over time, they have also been brainwashed to accept the standards of the community regarding alcohol. They think, why spoil the fun and my personal pleasure?

The truth is that excessive alcohol consumption is a sad scene, causing huge expense to our supportive social services, individual tragedies, and huge profits for the manufacturers. My personal opinion is that Christians should not be a part of it, for although alcoholic drinks can be pleasant, there is a larger issue here that we should be aware of.

Every time somebody buys a bottle of alcohol, they spend about 20% of the cost on further alcohol advertising. The scriptures teach that not all things of the world are expedient to us as Christians particularly when they cause problems for others. Many smaller religious groups put us to shame in the way they teach an alcohol-free lifestyle.

I would suggest one of the first steps in controlling the alcohol problems in New Zealand is to permanently phase out all positive promotion for alcohol, just has been done for tobacco. We need to be de-sensitised to the need for alcohol in our lives, as alcohol is not an essential or necessary part of our lives despite what the alcohol industry tells us.

We have underestimated the power of widespread advertising and sponsorship by the alcohol industry in brainwashing us favourably towards drinking. Let us instead aim for an alcohol-free lifestyle and support the many organisations trying to bring common-sense answers to a problem that is destroying many aspects of our society. Can we dare to be different?

– Dr Graeme Woodfield, Kumeu
• Dr Woodfield is a member of GALA (Group Against Alcohol Advertising) www.gala.org.nz