Keep Those Wraps

Alderwoman Brenda Konkel has a post called "Mixed Messages" at her blog today about the now infamous "beer bus", i.e. – a Metro bus with a full wrap add for Miller Genuine Draft. Ms. Konkel observed:

While the UW is so focused on the drinking habits of UW Students and how to change the culture of drinking on campus; the City is talking about limiting alcohol licenses downtown; the public and periphery alders are up in arms about the drag on police resources we have in the downtown area due to drinking on campus; and the police are warning students to be careful when drinking late night because Kelly Nolans[sic] killer is still on the lose[sic]; at the same time we have this "beer bus" circulating around downtown sending a much different message.

What message is the ad relaying? Obviously for Ms. Konkel, who was (gasp!) drinking beer at the time she made her observation, the ad means "go out and drink until you puke". If you follow the "beer bus" link above, you can read about Kevin Hinckley who apparently thinks public spaces should be sterilized for that perennial favorite of moral crusaders everywhere – to protect the children. In objecting to ads for De Jope Bingo Hall, Hinckley said, "We don't need 'a little bit of Vegas' in Madison. This is where we raise children, not a place where we gamble." I hate to break this to Mr. Hinckley but gambling and child raising are not mutually exclusive. He would apparently be surprised to find that there are, in fact, families in Las Vegas. The city has a population of nearly 500,000 men, women, and children who are parts of – you guessed it – families. Just ask Heather Skyler.

Ads for beer appear on billboards as well as on another vehicle called a beer truck. These trucks can be seen parked near taverns, restaurants, and other facilities that serve suds in full view of children! OH MY FUCK! We are truly a depraved society if we let these trucks with their caustic ads for beer on the outside idle on our city streets in plain view. I mean, how else would a youth get the idea that intoxicating beverages exist? What, do you think there's such a thing as peer pressure? The situation with the bus is a mere ad on the outside but, to make matters worse, with the trucks, children on the street might find themselves in close proximity to and see actual beer! Imagine the young mind of a child that sees a barrel being hauled across the sidewalk. It is truly ruined forever.

We now have a mini-temperance movement here in Madison which is being fed by the likes of Mr. Hinckley who apparently can't walk around in public without finding a million things that strike fear into him. One of Hinckley's co-whiners is Susan De Vos was quoted as saying, "If kids are seeing alcohol and gambling and whatever being advertized on busses, that's contrary to the idea that people have of what the community stands for." Well, speaking as a community member, I don't think our community stands for wiping out everything in public that would let kids on to the fact that the world really isn't like a Disney movie. It is not a mixed message to tell children that there are foods adults can consume and activities in which adults can engage that they cannot.