Robert Kirby
CHANNELVISION
I had intended to write about this matter a couple of weeks ago but, of course, the Cronje saga got in the way. What I wanted to say was how profoundly impressed I was by forthright statements made a fortnight or so ago by the redoubtable Mr Kader Asmal. It seemed that at last someone was stepping up and speaking about some urgently necessary action.
It was in an SABC news bulletin that Mr Asmal, and a few others, were expressing their very real misgivings about the supplying of alcohol to children. This was in reaction to the appalling nightclub tragedy in Chatsworth where 13 children died.
Apart from the obvious, I don’t quite know what distinction there is between supplying children with liquor and selling it to them. Mr Asmal and others seemed to prefer the former verb. I nonetheless take “supplying” to include the selling of liquor.
In all humility I would ask Mr Asmal to respond to the following. Does the advertising of liquor fall outside the terms of his condemnation? He certainly didn’t have anything to say about it. Would he hold that selling liquor to children is only socially capricious when it occurs, as it were, over the counter; that the advertising of liquor has nothing to do with the selling of it?
The public is well aware of the health hazards of tobacco; indeed one of Mr Asmal’s Cabinet colleagues succeeded in making the advertising of tobacco products subject to draconian control. Why not with liquor, one wonders?
The advertising of liquor during cricket broadcasts (and where the audience has a high percentage of young viewers) has the full sanction of the broadcasters. We all saw those saturation beer campaigns of the cricket Test matches. Indeed, Hansie Cronje’s grim visage still adorns Castle beer billboards. Last week’s one-day series against Australia had M-Net running a few dozen advertisements for hard liquor – at all times of the day and without the addition of the statutory warning about the illegality of the sale of alcohol to the under-aged. Clearly M- Net holds itself above such petty considerations.
What I am suggesting, Mr Asmal, is quite simple: the advertising of liquor on television should be banned. There is no need for lengthy consultation or official enquiries. We all know about the perils of alcohol – considerably worse than those of tobacco.
The use of as powerful a medium as television to promote drinking as a socially desirable activity is close to criminal irresponsibility. Which is why you won’t find any liquor advertising on American television or in most European countries. If South Africa has emulated those examples in the banning of tobacco advertising, why not with booze? I await Mr Asmal’s response with eagerness.
It would seem that Mr Dave Richardson has been appointed official spin doctor and senior white-washer of the current cricket scandal. Last Sunday’s Newsmaker on SABC2 had Dave being interviewed by one Janette Whitton, deputy head of SABC sports news broadcasts -though interviewing is a somewhat robust term for what Janette was doing, which was to dish up a series of lollipop underhands for Dave to tickle down to third man.
When Janette wasn’t wheedling, Dave took over. Talk about butter wouldn’t melt. Dave used much of the occasion to assure us that in the days when he was in the team, shady behaviour in cricket hadn’t even been invented. Dave then expanded on the subject of what a fine and gentlemanly paragon of virtue, devoutly religious, charming, deeply inspiring, undervalued, insightful, stimulating, impeccably honest, scrupulously ethical, devastatingly good-looking and gravely misunderstood sports genius Hansie Cronje has always been. As if we didn’t know, Dave.
All this drivel was received with limp gratitude by Ms Whitton, who should really do something about her wardrobe. She was wearing a dress which looked if it had been hastily run up from some old curtain material. It would have embarrassed a bag lady.
Sometimes the work of a critic gets the sort of feedback that makes the whole exercise worthwhile. Last week I had a few words of gentle advice for SABC newsreader Alyce Chavunduka. This last week has seen a distinct improvement in Alyce’s reading style.
When a top professional like Alyce is able to put aside personal considerations and take to heart well-intentioned advice, it shows that, in the end, it’s all worthwhile.
A gold star for you, Alyce. Keep up the good work.