Not-so-hidden persuaders

Darryl D’Monte

It is half a century ago that the American writer Vance Packard published a path-breaking book called The Hidden Persuaders, exposing the manipulation of advertising. In all the comment on the ghastly accident involving youngsters who were drinking and driving last weekend, one angle appears to have been forgotten: the promotion of drinking by liquor companies — particularly targeting the young.

The party at the Taj Land’s End, attended by those picked up by the errant driver, was organised by Diageo India, which makes Smirnoff vodka. Its MD is quoted in this newspaper’s West Coast supplement on Tuesday as saying: “Smirnoff Experience brings enriching life experiences (the irony could not be more ghastly) to music lovers. It provides world-class clubbing experience to its loyalists in every continent — from Australasia to America. We ensure that only the best international and local DJs on the electronic music circuit play at the Smirnoff Experience and today was another electrifying example of the same.”

There you have it. Liquor companies have to shoulder their share of the responsibility for such accidents because they are hell-bent on persuading the young and impressionable to switch to their brand. There was an international DJ that fateful night, which would have been a major draw for young adults and teenagers alike. From the very tenor of its statements, the company was selling an “experience” rather than a concert where liquor was feverishly promoted.

Liquor manufacturers may well argue, as they tend to do, that if a brand is permitted to be sold, nothing prevents them from promoting them. However, the very fact that alcohol is not permitted to be advertised speaks for itself. Moreover, if the companies promote the concept that it is fashionable to be young, partying and drinking with ‘breezers’, shots of tequila and the like, that is certainly objectionable, even if its conforms to the narrow interpretation of the law. As we have heard after the accident, teenagers are under severe pressure from their peers, and companies may well be exploiting such conformism.

‘Persuaders’ seek to make young people associate brands with hip lifestyles, just as tobacco companies sought to whitewash their image by promoting music festivals, awards for acts of courage, and so on. They also resort to promotional gimmicks like offering a free drink with every purchase of one or two glasses. Once again, this is permitted, but when this coincides with a ‘blast’ for youngsters, with high-decibel music, the combination can literally prove lethal. Even if young adults go to a ticketed party for the music, the temptation to drink, when it is flowing so freely, is obviously great. It would be interesting to find out the average age at a typical Smirnoff Experience event, and others of its ilk.

As media reports are revealing, it is now unhappily becoming common for 15- and 16-year olds to be celebrating their birthdays by booking discos and drinking hard. At the very least, the organisers of late-night parties have to ensure that anyone under 21 —which applies to all the five passengers who were at the hotel last Saturday — is prohibited from drinking. If organisers are caught for a repeated offence, they should be prevented from holding such events for a period. Although the hotel has claimed that it was not responsible for last Saturday’s ‘private party’, it has to bear a moral liability for whatever happens in its premises. Laxity on this score can prove disastrous.

There is another major complaint against liquor manufacturers, which is that they regularly evade the ban on advertising by resorting to surrogate publicity. In Mumbai, motorists — of all those targeted — are often accosted by huge hoardings right across major arteries which proclaim a particular brand of drink. Companies attempt to get off the hook by inserting at one corner of the hoarding in minute print the fact that they are actually selling soda or a CD or some other product, which is misleading.

The Advertising Standards Council of India, the self-regulatory body of the advertising industry, has repeatedly tried to castigate liquor manufacturers for resorting to this subterfuge. Despite such reprimands, the companies seem to observe the ban more in the breach. With such ads being constantly beamed at consumers, is it a wonder that the young don’t think twice about drinking and driving?

The writer is a Mumbai-based author and journalist.