Researching alcohol interventions for a friend. I’ve seen more ads for alcohol than ever in my life

I have a friend who’s alcohol consumption has gotten out of control. Me and his other friends/family are planning an intervention and so I’ve been doing a lot of research/reading on the topic.

NEVER and I mean NEVER have I seen so many fucking ads for alcohol in my LIFE. Instagram? 15 ads in a half hour of scrolling reels. YouTube? Ads. Google results? Ads. Twitter? Ads.

It’s fucking everywhere and it’s SICK. I’m researching how to help someone stop drinking and I’m getting inundated with ads for anything from gin, beers, vodkas and more. I can’t even imagine having an alcohol issue and trying to find help for myself with the web being this way.

It’s fucking sick.

Blizzard,

ublockorigin.com

adguard.com

PenguinJuice,

Wait - are you really the real Blizzard?

Why did you do this to us?

Blizzard,

I wish they had an official account on Lemmy because I’d like to ask them some questions:

  • why do giant slugs and porcupines keep bound prisoners?
  • why do mobs suddenly come out from underground? Just becasue it made sens with zergs, doesn’t mean it will make sens with everything

Don’t let me start talking about movement because it’ll turn into a rant.

Remmock,

This treats the symptom, not the illness.

Blizzard,

This is a vaccine that will make you immune to the illness.

Anomalous_Llama,

Most of my devices have all the relevant blocks and filters etc. my iPhone doesn’t and given I’m mostly in a few paid apps it hasn’t really been an issue in the past at all.

I really just wanted to call attention to how sick of an issue this is for someone who might be trying to help themselves.

Blizzard,

Yes, it is a dick move. Companies don’t care about consumers, they care about sales and their brand. You could document this with some screenshots or a short video and send out an e-mail to a bunch of popular newspapers. If any of them pick up the subject, it could hurt those assholes.

azvasKvklenko,

Interesting. I live in Poland and liquor advertisements are illegal here, in fact all alcoholic beverage commercials are banned except for beer (I think even with that there used to be some restrictions that in tv they can be only aired after 23:00 or 11 PM, I’m not sure if it’s still the case). According the law definition, it should also apply to social media and internet in general, but it might or might not be completely regulated (yet?). In general however, I don’t see such adverts and even beer adverts are quite rare, to the point that I forgot they could exist, just like cigarettes commercials.

Last beer advert I remember was some some billboard with 0% Free beer with raspberry flavor or whatever

scarabic, (edited )

I quit smoking years ago and I really felt like the world wanted me to quit. Indoor smoking at restaurants was being banned. No more smoking section on flights. Movies were no longer depicting everyone with a cigarette in their mouth all the time like they did in the 60s. Many hotels stopped offering smoking rooms. Nicotine patches and gum were available to help.

I felt like trends in the world were behind me and it helped.

Alcohol is a totally different story. Alcohol is not being banned. It is still something almost everyone does. It is allowed at restaurants and virtually everywhere else. Everyone I know drinks. They haven’t cracked down on advertising in the same way. Hotel rooms have booze in the room for you. Airlines bring you drinks. There are no OTC quitting aids.

If someone has an alcohol problem and needs to quit, they’re really going to have a much harder time than quitting smoking.

GillyGumbo,

Tbf, most of the reasoning behind the “help” you got for smoking was because it actively endangers those around you. Alcoholism, by an extremely large margin, affects those around you much less.

Sandman89,

With the understanding that I don’t have the knowledge to say that you’re anything but absolutely right, I do think that the damage assessment would be tricky when taking mental health and social wellbeing into account.

themajesticdodo,

That last sentence was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read.

RBWells,

Alcohol abuse absolutely affects everyone around you. We had a friend who used to say “there is no problem in the world that can’t be made worse with alcohol!”

Even setting aside things like car crashes under the influence and violence under the influence - lost days at work affect your coworkers, hung over parent who can’t help out, alcohol abuse harms others, not just the abuser.

captainlezbian,

That’s very much not true. Smoking will always negatively impact those around you, and drinking can be done fine. But when you’re getting to the point where you’ve decided to quit drinking you’ve likely been reflecting on the damage you’ve done to others. Alcoholics in the heat of their addiction range from unpleasant to deadly. Hell that’s why America had a prohibition movement once.

untrainedtribble,

I just had my 2 year sobriety birthday this month and I completely agree with you, however, I do think the culture in America is shifting. Millennials aren’t drinking AS much and Gen Z much much less. The social pressure to drink is waning somewhat and I live in a state that has the most drinking per capita in the country.

There’s a lot of N/A beers that have gotten much better to give people quitting an alternative (like nicotine gum or patches). Long way to go but I do think it’s trending in a positive direction for people struggling. I understand this isn’t something some people feel comfortable with - I was very hesitant to try one for the first time after quitting because I wasn’t sure if it would spark the urge to drink real beer more but it’s been great for me.

I don’t see a world where alcohol is restricted as much as public smoking but having alternatives is a big thing for me to feel less awkward in drinking social settings where i still feel like I’m participating in a healthy way for me.

scarabic,

Good to hear about the youth trends. The industry has gotten creative in going after them with all manner of sweet alcoholic coolers and such. I guess that’s been going on for some time.

It does seem that young people these days are doing considerably less drinking, fucking, and fast driving than when I was their age. As a parent, I suppose I am glad for this, even though it seems to come along with some bad stuff like spending less time outside and social media zombification.

Glad to hear that near beer helps you. I have tried it and didn’t find it sparked anything for me, but it also didn’t do anything for me either, and I felt conspicuous with it in my hand. Maybe that’s all better now with more options that are higher quality.

Congratulations on your anniversary! I will raise a La Croix to you today.

SCB,

the youth

Gonna make us both feel old but Gez Z is increasingly old enough to drink legally. My daughter is tail end of Z and she’s 18.

Thumbs up to the rest of the post tho, that just caught me by surprise so I had to spread that crazy-seeming message.

scarabic,

I don’t really have a grip on the names folks give these generations, and that’s getting more and more the case as time goes on!

medgremlin,

Unfortunately, the medications that help with alcohol withdrawal are somewhat dangerous in their own right and need to be fairly tightly controlled. Delirium tremens (the shakes) from withdrawal are usually managed with benzodiazepines like Valium for emergent use and Ativan for prolonged control. The other main maintenance drug for alcohol withdrawal is Librium, and that one is also a benzodiazepine. It would be amazing if there were safe OTC options, but because of the serious damage alcohol does and the dangerous nature of withdrawal from it, it really needs to be closely medically managed. Opiate withdrawal sucks…alcohol withdrawal can very easily kill you outright.

scarabic,

You’re right. Serious alcohol addiction can be an in-patient thing. All the more reason it’s strange how we demonize smoking but not alcohol. They both have quite negative long term health impacts, but I don’t think nicotine withdrawal can be fatal. And the whole drunk driving thing…

I know there is a long history of temperance movements and things aren’t as bad as they once were in history. But I think our current age is really lacking a much needed awakening about alcohol.

RBWells,

Yeah it’s so hard because for most of us, alcohol is food culture, not so much a drug. I drink one cocktail 2 - 3 times a week, only ever one because I don’t enjoy being drunk, and make drinks at parties BUT also always make sure there is something adult, delicious, and not alcoholic plus plenty of soda and pitchers of water because I know not everyone can just pick it up and put it down like that. But most people can & do. Fewer people just smoke a couple times a week.

Humans have been fermenting things to get alcoholic drinks for a really long time.

medgremlin,

Something I’ve seen at some restaurants (ranging from casual to Michelin star) is the increasing prevalence of mocktails. If you mix non-alcoholic ingredients with the same kind of style and objective as mixed drinks, you can make some really tasty stuff.

RBWells,

Exactly. Not fruit punch. I try to make something complex, with some bitter, some sour, some sweet. Young pineapple tepache or ginger beer, before they get at all boozy are good if you aren’t serving actual recently recovering alcoholics as they are non-intoxicating and delicious and complex. Grapefruit juice non alcoholic cocktails are also good and complex.

Chinotto soda or Malta can also be good adult choices for a party.

Usually even the drinkers at a party like the non alcoholic fancy drinks. And Diet Coke is always popular too.

zikk_transport2,

Indeed. And consequences of alcohol to other people are way more significant than from smoking. Drunk drivers, drunk fights, drunk workers, aggression, depression and so on.

Myself I don’t smoke, but vape. Tabacco smoke stinks really bad that I can’t even stand the smell. My gf who don’t smoke or vape says that my vapor is basically nothing, can’t even smell most of the time, but cigarettes are just disgusting…

scarabic,

I know what you mean about consequences to other people. It is significant that second hand cigarette smoke can give other people cancer, though. I think that’s one of the big reasons why cigarette smoking gets banned in lots of places while drinking does not.

Shelbyeileen,
@Shelbyeileen@lemmy.world avatar

I know this is four months old, but I’m getting nonstop gambling ads after googling how to block them and its driving me insane. I hate that I’m not alone in ad hell… I’ve lost people because of gambling addiction and it is RIDICULOUS that there isn’t a way to block ads for things that are dangerous, if they become addictive.

flucksy_bango, (edited )

Alcoholic here. Super bowl ads are toxic. All hail the protective ad blocker.

Lowered_lifted,

If you don’t block ads and you type things into searches about alcohol you will indeed get a lot of alcohol ads. The thing is though, I never got them as frequently when I was still drinking, or maybe never noticed them. Also I once got served ads for beer on a page about quitting booze lol, it seems pretty intentional even though it’s most likely not that targeted.

m3t00,
@m3t00@lemmy.world avatar

block their scripts

FReddit,

You can’t help anyone with a substance abuse problem.

They either choose to fix themselves or they die.

urist,
@urist@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

OP and others are reaching out to a friend to show they care. They want to tell their friend that they have a problem, and that the problem is solvable. OP is putting up with any unconformable feelings and bad blood this will cause to do this.

This might be enough for that friend to want to make a change.

OP must know only their friend can choose to stop drinking.

u202307011927,

You guys are getting ads?

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

The level of advertising on the internet is why I haven’t been without an adblocker since the early 2000’s. And when the ads aren’t displayed, you also get to see just how much god damn space is devoted to them, with all the now empty space left on any given page.

And009,

Few pages legit break apart without any ad containers

scarabic,

Just as a note to OP, some levels of alcohol addiction are so deep that they cannot be halted at once without risk to the addict’s health or even life. If you suspect your friend could be that far gone, it requires medical intervention.

arefx,

Gonna hijack this comment to say I was a major alcoholic drinking bottles of vodka every day, always drinking. Never not drinking. You get the idea. A real piece of shit. Anyway I got drunk and did a bunch of acid my friend had and decided while totally fucked on it that I had to quit. A few days later after talking to some family I called my doctor and he referred me to a nearby hospital with a separate chemical dependency area and they helped me medical detox (outpatient at home) and it is the single best thing I ever did for myself. 7 and a half years sober. Life has only got better since then. I had almost nothing, barely showed up to work, blew all my money on alcohol and other drugs, and now after years of hard work I own my own small business and am doing well for myself.

Anyone currently struggling with alcoholism, ask some friends and family for help, speak to your doctor, and get better. You know you want to.

scarabic,

Congratulations on those 7.5 years! What a great story.

electriccars,

The founder of Alcoholics Anonymous considered LSD to be a great tool to help alcoholics recover. Thank goodness you had that LSD! It changed your life!

www.theguardian.com/…/lsd-help-alcoholics-theory

ArtisinalBS,

Don’t take it as an instruction to do LSD as a way to stop addiction - follow instruction given to you by a doctor first

electriccars,

A Dr will never prescribe LSD lol

delaunayisation,

Don’t listen to what AA says tho. They are religious nuts and their practices have no basis in science.

electriccars,

Agreed.

arefx,

AA is not for everyone. Myself included.

CanadaPlus,

Oh man, this sounds like it could become a news piece.

kamenLady,

Sorry for spamming, i already wrote this in response to another comment, but i kind of find this important for everyone:

First thing everyone should do on a new phone ( or old phone, any phone )

  1. go to Internet & Network Settings
  2. Enter “dns.adguard.com” for Private DNS
  3. Profit: never see ads anywhere on your phone. Not in apps and in no browser.

It’s as simple as that. That’s all you need, in order too block ads globally.

Iirc there are different DNS servers from adguard with custom filters. Some are more strict and others more loose on the blocking.

This instruction is for Android, since it’s what i use, but I’m sure, similar setting exists in iOS.

Dozzi92, (edited )
@Dozzi92@lemmy.world avatar

Any qualms with Adguard being [created in] Moscow?

[Edited]

redcalcium,

You can self-host it (e.g. on a raspberry pi) and point it to upstream DNS servers not associated with Adguard or Russia (e.g. Google DNS, Cloudflare DNS, OpenDNS, etc). I myself use the self-hosted version.

whats_a_refoogee,

It should be noted that setting Adguard as your DNS will allow Adguard to track the domains you visit. The latest info I can find is that a lot of their team is still located in Russia, which makes them susceptible to government demands regardless of their intentions.

DNS adblocking should be the last resort. On Android there are many ways to do system wide local adblocking (with and without root). Don’t know about iOS. Alternatively you can do network level blocking with something like a pi-hole.

sndrtj,

What about not using any free services for this? Those are guaranteed to be scummy. I pay $2 a month for NextDNS.

ArcaneSlime,

“Why should I care about privacy? I have nothing to hide, who cares if they target advertising at me?”

Not to make light of your situation, but if anyone in the crowd has said this to themselves at some point, the answer to why they should care is “shit like exactly this.” This is a prime example of “not illegal stuff to hide but targeted advertising actively making your life harder purposefully in an attempt to manipulate you into buying their products.”

Take back your privacy, use alternate solutions and avoid shit tier companies that attempt to take it from you for their own financial gain, even at the expense of your own financial ruin. Make “unsecure” a black mark companies have to crawl their way out of or else their products won’t be used or bought. Fuck them. Is it possible to gain 100% anonymity online? Likely, no, but you can put in a little effort to stop it as much as you can, and use adblockers of course to block what they would send. There is effort to it to be sure, but it is worth it, and the more people take their privacy seriously the more tools will be developed, improved, etc.

Again sorry to sort of hijack your post for this comment, that sucks and fuck whoever is serving you (and by extension actual alcoholics seeking recovery) those targeted ads. I just feel it’s necessary to point out real world examples of “this is why” because when you’re just talking about privacy as a concept people always pretend that since they aren’t a Sicario for Sinaloa they have no reason to care. You do, something as “small” (legal) as this is a reason.

Anomalous_Llama,

Lots of really good privacy tips etc in this thread. Many I knew. Some I didn’t and loads that will help others. It’s actually great to see.

kamenLady,

First thing everyone should do on a new phone ( or old phone, any phone )

  1. go to Internet & Network Settings
  2. Enter “dns.adguard.com” for Private DNS
  3. Profit: never see ads anywhere on your phone. Not in apps and in no browser.

It’s as simple as that.

Iirc there are different DNS servers from adguard with custom filters. Some are more strict and others more loose on the blocking.

This instruction is for Android, since it’s what i use, but I’m sure, similar setting exists in iOS.

ArcaneSlime,

Well shit I’ll have to look into this, fist I’m hearing of it. Thanks!

Mdotaut801,

Preaching to the choir. I’ve been sober for years at this point and had a poly substance abuse issue but alcohol was always one that would always come back around in my life. It’s literally everywhere and YOU’RE the weird one if you don’t drink. Alcohol is a literal poison and it’s so in your face no matter what you do. Things that helped me were friends and family (sounds like you’re a good friend, I don’t know you but I’m proud of you for leading the charge on trying to get your friend help), naltrexone, and completely removing myself from situations where alcohol was present, and leaving behind people that didn’t respect my sobriety.

It was a lot of hard work, I fucked up a few times. Just be there for your buddy, it sounds like you already are but yeah. Come from a place of concern, ask them if they’re concerned about their own drinking and figure out what’s goin’ on. Also, don’t be offended if you get told to fuck off this first go around. If he’s not ready and is still in denial, you will not change his mind and you will be setting everyone up for failure here. If he’s not ready for the help, there’s nothing you can do other than express your concern about alcoholism, his physical and mental health and let it stew. You may find that he chooses alcohol over his relationships at this stage in his addiction. If he wants to come forward and get help, then that’s great.

Also, sorry for the rant. Maybe you didn’t want advice haha.

ohlaph,

You sound like a good friend, thanks for caring so much. The world needs more caring people.

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