I have been watching enough TV over the holiday to develop a small crush on Lily. Also to notice that most advertisers have not adapted to the realities of the holidays, or anything else, during a pandemic. In an effort to keep up my holiday spirits, I picked up some Tito's. The little bottles had Christmas sweaters on them, so now I am on the hunt for a Barbie or GI Joe in search of a dirtbag makeover.
But. There was also a tag on the bottle that said BRING THE TITO'S MAKE SPIRITS BRIGHT. Bring it
where, exactly? I brought some of the Tito's in a glass into the living room to drink while I watched the Koresh biopic, rounding out a holiday trifecta of the Richard Jewell and Unabomber seasons of Manhunt. But the label implied that I would be doing something more festive than that. During a pandemic. And making a decision likely to add to the 300k plus deaths we have suffered in this country from COVID so far. I guess it would be asking too much for them to put on a tag that says, DRINK TITO'S WHILE YOU WATCH BIOPICS ABOUT TROUBLED DUDES FROM THE 90s, but it did make me think on how much of the way alcohol is promoted in the US revolves around Festive Gatherings. More generally, so much of what we see on TV now presents a fantasy of a COVID-exempt reality that simply does not exist. Given what a tough sell basic public health precautions are, that seems pretty bad.
Comments