I went to watch the movie Logan the other day and found that even these X-men drank beer when conversing with fellows. In fact, all recent movies I've watched had a couple of scenes where the characters would grab a glass of whiskey or beer and have a relaxed conversation. People go to the movies and see it's OK to drink and nothing wrong happens and they take this as an example. Wouldn't it be better if we started cultivating a healthy mindset, exercising by cutting this stuff in movies?
What do you think?
One possible answer is that in the United States, although there is no actual law against it, through a complicated system of public pressure, custom, and special regulations for childrens' television, there is a tendency not to have too many advertisements for alcohol on television. And the ads themselves are somewhat restrained in what is shown.
For many decades, for example, nobody was ever shown actually drinking beer. You would see empty glasses, you would see beer being poured into the glasses and foaming, you would see someone holding a glass in their hand, and the camera would cut to a shot of an empty glass being set down on the table--but not actual drinking.
It is very common to have "product placement" in movies and TV shows. That means that a company pays the studio money to have the studio include shots of their product within the movie. A very good clue as to whether there is product placement is to notice whether the product just happens to be positioned so that the brand label is facing the camera, and the shot is close enough to let you read the label.
(Apple Computer is very good at this. In the movies you see a lot more Apple laptops than you do in real life).
So, instead of having an outright advertisement for, oh, say, Budweiser beer, you instead watch happy characters drinking Budweiser as part of the story. Not only is this sneaky, but since it is part of the story and not an advertisement, the customs don't apply and people can be shown actually drinking and obviously enjoying it.
The situation in the United States is very complicated indeed. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_advertising#United_States
The essential thing is that in the United States, many industries practice "self-regulation." If too many members of the public got angry enough, they might be able to convince the government to pass laws. Industries would rather regulate themselves than have the government regulate them, so they make their own rules and keep them voluntarily. The media have agreed among themselves to follow some rules about advertising alcohol, but these rules are not laws.
