The first in a six-part series of presentations examining alcohol use in college settings premiered Wednesday in the Lumpkin Hall Auditorium.

Eric Davidson, assistant director of the Health Education Resource Center, challenged students to think critically as he dissected a sequence of commercials targeted at young people. Amanda Fountain, marketing/public relations and Web design coordinator, was originally scheduled to speak.

“Big companies manipulate the media to try to get you to engage in behaviors that may be harmful,” Davidson said. “What they try to do is get you to drink, and drink in excess.”

Throughout the hour-long investigation, Davidson interacted with the audience by asking questions and initiating a game of “Eric Says” to relay information pertinent to the college experience.

The exercise was meant to demonstrate the ways in which the alcohol industry focuses on a specific group, as well as the importance of paying attention to every aspect of a message, including music.

Joanna Tyrka, a freshman business major, said she was surprised discovering the tactics used by advertisers to sell their products.

“It really opened my eyes,” Tyrka said.

The audience tackled ads pushing prominent brands such as Coca-Cola, Little Debbie, Listerine and Bud Light frame-by-frame.

Much of what they found centered on a recurring theme of having fun with friends and being carefree.

Brimming with subliminal sexual innuendos and strategic emotional appeals, Davidson warned students that this particular portrayal of alcohol consumption, although attractive, is inaccurate.

“I know none of you have been to a bar, because you’re all underage,” Davidson said. “But I grew up in an American Legion bar, and the people you see in this commercial are a lot prettier than what you’d probably find.

“(Back then), there were a lot of older people, mostly chain-smokers with drinking problems, but this commercial is trying to get you to say, ‘ooh, that’s a really great lifestyle.’ You don’t see any of the negative consequences. What it doesn’t show you is intoxication, fighting or public urination.”

The presentation also stressed the societal concern of the objectification of women, projected multiple times during each commercial promoting alcohol.

One viewer counted a total of 17 times the camera concentrated on a woman’s body in a single 30-second commercial, while another lost count.

“Marketers like to employ sex because it sells,” Davidson said. “Women are portrayed as items, as physical pieces of meat in commercials targeted at males 18 to 24 years of age. We’ll sit there and laugh about it, but is it really a laughing matter? Is it really funny?”

On the contrary, much of the audience reacted with wonder at the measures some advertisers took to attract their business.

Whether stirring emotion through “aw moments” with images of kids eating snack cakes and baby polar bears drinking cola, or sensual scenes with suggestive undertones, students began to read between the lines to better judge the commercials’ content.

“It’s ridiculous how much money they make,” Davidson said. “It’s ridiculous how much money they spend to make these commercials. What they portray is nothing like the parties you’ve been to, the parties you’re going to, or anything you’ve been exposed to. I guarantee that after this presentation, you’ll look at commercials, movies and TV differently.”

The second part of the six-part series will be held 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Lumpkin Hall Auditorium.

Erica Whelan can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.

Eric Davidson, associate director of Health Service, talks to students in Lumpkin Hall Wednesday during the “Drowning in Alcohol: Pop Culture, Alcohol, Media and You!” about being drunk when partying. The presentation was part of the Six-Pack series about

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