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First Place Winner, Katherine Phillips, Laredo Middle School  Teacher, Don Batt

Media Myths

"It's such a nice day outside!"  My mom said excitedly as we were driving down the road.  I smiled.  She was right - there were birds singing, squirrels dancing around and chasing each other.  The sun was bright and shining and there in my face was.......a billboard?  "FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE!"  It read.  As we were nearing it, I thought about the girl and how beautiful she looked sitting on the beach at sunset, her golden hair flowing down her back.  How much I wanted to be her, and with that great looking guy!  But then I wondered, will all that really happen if I drink that same brand of beer that is in the picture?  The media portray many myths and perceptions about alcohol and tobacco, some of them negative, others not.

So much money is devoted to alcohol advertising - almost $14 million a day (www.ymn.org)!  Is all of this advertising to blame for alcohol being the #1 drug of choice among our nation's youth (www.primett.org)?  The media want us to believe six basic things about alcohol:  that it's safe, risk-free, normal, necessary, transforming, and strengthening.  Of course, none of these are true.  They want you to think that it can’t hurt you, and everyone does it.  They get inside your brain through “hidden ads” in movies and television shows that you don’t even know are there, and before you know it, you’re walking around like a zombie, believing that you need alcohol to survive and that it will make you a better, prettier, stronger, and wiser person.  But we all know that drinking alcohol is far from wise.

Although the media portray many positive myths on alcohol, it also carries a few negative ones up its sleeves.  “The Truth” commercials ask you if you will be alive in five years after a girl gets killed in an accident concerning a drunk driver.  After watching a commercial like that, you may vow never to drink again.  The media tell you that if you have one drink, it will ruin your life forever, and you will die because you are addicted to that nasty thing called alcohol.  But alcohol isn’t that bad.  One bottle a (sic) beer every now and then if you are of legal age is not going to kill you and if you stay a safe distance away you will be fine.  But that is not the message the media portray.

The media not only portray myths about alcohol, but tobacco as well.  Companies pay BIG bucks to have their cigarettes featured in movies such as Superman or any of the James Bond movies, telling young people that smoking makes you buff, tough, and cool.  They do this by showing you a picture of someone who society would consider upper class or really cool.  Then, by showing that picture of the person with the tobacco in hand and showing the person looking content with themselves, they make you believe that if you were holding that same tobacco in your hand, you would be the same way.  The media want you to know that none of the consequences of smoking will actually happen to you and that it is your body and you have the right to do whatever you want with it.  They say cigarettes are “safe than other drugs” and “will help you lose weight” (www.medialit.org).  But are a few pounds worth bad breath, yellow teeth, and a lifetime of health problems?

On the contrary, the media also shoots down tobacco.  Commercials telling parents to get involved with their kids by asking them questions about where they are going and who they are going to be with before they leave the house can keep kids away from drugs.  On the popular Monday night drama 7^th Heaven, a family with seven kids deals with problems teens face everyday, and one of those issues is of course tobacco.  In one episode, one of the boy’s girlfriend’s smokes and actually burns down the house that she was housesitting for while one of the younger girls discovers how tobacco can ruin friendships.

As we pass the billboard and get further and further away from it, I began to realize that the media are all around us, on football games sponsored by Bud Light, in tobacco commercials on TV, and alcoholic billboards across country roads.  We cannot stop the media from portraying myths, but by being aware of the facts and understanding media’s propaganda techniques, we can prevent the media’s perceptions from rotting our brains.  Many myths and perceptions about alcohol and tobacco are out there, thanks to the media, but now we know how to deal with it: through the truth.