Drunken Baby Photos? Not So Funny

by Jo Parente (Subscribe to Jo Parente's posts)
Jul 15th 2010 5:16PM

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions

Call me humorless, but I just don't see what's funny or cute about photos of babies meant to look like they're drunk. In fact, I'm offended.

I'll admit, when I first came upon this article from The Stir about chocolatiere Lunivers de Chocolat's drunken baby ad campaign for their whisky-filled chocolates, I wasn't immediately irritated. As an urban mom of two teenagers, who actually ask me to hang out with them and their friends sometimes, I like to think I'm cool and hip to modern culture. I wear Converse and rarely tuck my shirts.

So, when I read the bit about how there are three types of parents: "The ones who think it's hilarious to have baby pose with a beer bottle for a photo, the ones who have photos where baby looks drunk and they play that up, and the ones who think the other two types are borderline bad parents. (Read: Have no sense of humor.)" -- I naturally assumed I would never be the type who has no sense of humor.

So why am I feeling so uneasy about these photos?

Simple. I've seen those looks before on my own baby. Granted, she was 17 at the time, and not a toddler -- but, honestly, that makes no difference. Three weeks before my daughter headed off to college, I got a call that she was stinking drunk.

Credit: Dentsu / Lunivers de Chocolat

I jumped in my car, drove the mile or two to reach her, and was greeted by the sight of two girls and one random man carrying my daughter. They unloaded her onto the sidewalk, where she lay, half-conscious, perpetually throwing up.

I dialed 911 for an ambulance, then tried to make her talk to me. At the hospital, they put her on multiple bags of intravenous fluids and catheterized her. Five hours later, they gave her medication to help her stop throwing up so we could take her home.

This may sound new-agey, but my sense is that she was lucky this happened to her right before she went away to college, where she could have suffered a far worse fate had this happened amongst strangers or at a wild party.

Sure, this is my family's story, but before you sit back and say "it'll never happen to my child," think again.

Credit: Dentsu / Lunivers de Chocolat

Here are some pretty jarring statistics about adolescents, aged 12 to 17, from the National Center for Health Statistics:

16 percent had their first alcoholic drink before age 13
39 percent had at least one drink of alcohol in their lifetime
21 percent had at least one drink of alcohol during the 30 days before the survey
37 percent of those who drank in the past 30 days reported drinking on three or more days during that period
10 percent had five or more drinks of alcohol within a couple of hours -- binge drinking -- on at least one day during the past month
3 percent had five or more drinks of alcohol in a row on three or more days in the past month

The National Institutes of Health considers underage drinking "a leading public health problem in this country," according to the organization's website, and reports that each year, approximately 5,000 people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking.

Credit: Dentsu / Lunivers de Chocolat

In fairness, I tried reaching Lunivers de Chocolat and their advertising agency, Dentsu Latin America Propaganda Ltda. to explain the joke, but neither one returned my emails.

So, Lunivers, sorry if I don't think your ads are funny. Maybe it's an American thing, considering that the ad campaign won a prestigious Gold Lion award at the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Or, maybe it's because alcohol abuse in kids just isn't funny.

Jo Parente is the ParentDish nom de plume, a pen name, used by our editorial team when we want to spill our dirty little secrets but still keep our dignity, and families, intact.

ReaderComments (Page 4 of 8)

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7-16-2010 @ 10:16AM

Tracy said...

Well said. I agree 100%.

7-16-2010 @ 10:10AM

Kate said...

You are really stretching it to say these kids look drunk. I raised 4 kids, and they would look like this when we would wake them up from naps, or they would be trying to stay awake, not wanting to take a nap.

Just because, these pictures are being used as a selling point for the alcohol filled candies, doesn't mean the kids have been fed any alcohol.

a good photographer that takes a lot of pictures of kids, or even Mom and Dad can catch this kind of pictures when their little ones are sleepy or just waking up. Get real, there are probably some nut case parents out their that feed their kids alcohol, but for the most part these pictures are of a sweet nature of kids.

Why does everything have to be picked to death these days? People are being taught to stick their nose's into everyone else's business today. Big Brother is breeding and growing paranoid, intrusive busy bodies, and it is turning our society into a whole country of crazies.

7-16-2010 @ 10:18AM

Lydea Sheets said...

NOT FUNNY !!!! Young children looking at these are going to equate candy with drunkeness. Too many adults underestimate the intelligence of children. Drunk is destructive - devastating to those around the person and just plain disgusting.

7-16-2010 @ 10:12AM

dugandob said...

Are you nuts? These pictures look like the children are tired. I've got dozens of pictures like these. I've got a picture of one of my children passed out at the table with a spoon in her hand. She was 3.
I guess you only see what you think about, and that must be drinking to much.
These are cute pictures of tired children.

7-16-2010 @ 3:21PM

dowell said...

you don't get it. the pictures alone look like sleepy children. these pictures on an ad for alcohol candy create a different image. how dare you accuse someone of 'only seeing what they think about, drinking too much" when the damn pictures are on an ad for alcohol.

marketers create an image. this is an image of intoxicated children. without the product they are sleepy. in the context of the ad they are intoxicated.

7-16-2010 @ 10:19AM

Patty Rubble said...

What is really offensive to myself is the author's admission. That at first she thought the pictures were cute read: Laughable. Until her own child showed the neighborhood the mother's inability to have taught the right and wrong way to drink alcohol. I am sure having a child OD on booze isn't funny but to use your own failings to condemn what you thought was once funny. And for the world is just too short of being a bigot by failure. It is not appreciated.

The article would have been better if the personal failure and change of mind hadn't been included. A rare alcohol drinker, and an successful teacher of two sons that continue the rare drinking of alcohol.

7-16-2010 @ 11:55AM

the personal failure and the change of mind is called a paradigm shift. we all go thru these kinds of shifts. it is her way of expressing how the reality of her daughter's brush with death changed her point of view on what's funny and what is not. incidentally, her daughter's experience does NOT represent a parenting failure, and to say so is extremely judgmental. there are parents who think that if they drink with their kids they are teaching responsibility. they fail to see that many kids never hear the whole message, only the part that suits them, that being that drinking is harmless and ok. this author opened up her heart to express why she might have found these pictures amusing at one time, but not now. i don't get why people are skewering her for that. what is correct and funny about using underage kids to sell an alcoholic product? of course they're not drunk....some people here think they have uncovered a trade secret by saying they're only sleepy. you guys are just soooo clever. the point is that the advertiser is betting that people will find drunk kids funny, and therefore promote their product. drunk kids aren't funny. hell, drunk people aren't funny unless you're drunk too. i'm not opposed to drinking, but i am opposed to irresponsible drinking. my brother is an alcoholic, a syndrome he would have never discovered without the first drink. it has driven his life. then there is the whole other issue of parents selling unflattering pictures of their kids. why? i'll bet they wouldn't be interested in dispalying unflattering pictures of themselves. these kids have no say so in how they are represented, but their parents do. i'm willing to bet that many people who laugh at these photos don't carry similar photos in their wallet of their own kids. the discouraging thing about this whole discussion is the way that some folks are attacking the author. she is simply expressing her opinion and allowing the reader into a mind-changing event. i'll read it again, but i don't recall her attacking anyone or name-calling. then there is space provide for the reader to offer their opinion, but so many people use it as a platform to attack and demean and belittle. if one wants to know why we can't solve the larger issues facing our country, they have but to look at the postings after almost any article....the anonymity of the internet emboldens people, and we find out how they really feel. but for some reason they can't express it without infusing their opinions with hate-language and name calling. these sleepy kids that you're laughing at are growing up in this world. what are we gonna teach them about tolerance? just sayin'.....

CINDI said...

WHERE THE HELL IS CHILD SERVICES??????

7-16-2010 @ 10:55AM

Brenda said...

I just dont see what makes them funny!!!

7-16-2010 @ 10:25AM

Shannon said...

Truth is...very simple....The ads just weren't necessary...You follow me?

7-16-2010 @ 10:51AM

mrs.comstock said...

That's hilarious!

Better be careful though, next thing you know some uptight a-hole (without a sense of humor) is going to think you're serious and call child services.

7-16-2010 @ 10:43AM

RR01 said...

I am APPALLED by how many people think this ad is funny, and, that the writer is a "whiny bitch!" But, I guess that's why we are in so much trouble with substance abuse in this country, especially among our teenagers and young people. Try being the parent of a child who died from substance abuse - I know many of them and, believe me, it is NOT funny! And, yes, the cultural messages that we send our children DO make an impression - not individually, for sure, but, cumulatively, over the years. HOW do we adults have fun? HOW do we celebrate holidays and special occasions? Generally, with the use of various substances, alcohol being chief among them, that "loosen" us up! Our CHILDREN see this from the time they are tiny tots! So, yes, call ME another "whiny bitch" because I am APPALLED by this ad! Intoxication among the very young is NOT something to joke about! Those of you who THINK so - come back to me when YOU lose a beloved young person to this curse!

7-16-2010 @ 11:04AM

xitoutagain said...

It's like a picture of a purple unicorn drinking from a pink fountain, IT DIDNT REALLY HAPPEN!!! Get over it. If you are that worried about kids get off the computer and go do something constructive, like volunteer at a battered womens and childrens center. Oh, but that won't happen either. You just want to sit here and flap your gums about crap. Personally my kids thought that the pictures were cute and silly. They are also smart enough to know that those babies arent really drunk and that alcohol is only for adults. You know why, because I took the time to teach them that. They know the difference between reality and fantasy. Its not the medias fault that kids learn bad habits, its the fault of the parents. Lazy parents that want to blame everything their kids do on someone else instead of taking responsibility.

7-16-2010 @ 3:01PM

if alcohol is only for adults, why use underage children to promote it? shall we put condoms in their hands, cigarettes in their mouths, lingerie on their precious bodies, and plaster them over the billboards, because Everyone will laugh at them and understand that these things are only for adults. let's use your children.

7-16-2010 @ 10:36AM

Private said...

Not only do I find zero humor in this advertising campaign another on a different note is quite offending as well. How about those Huggies denim diaper adds; the ones that "sex it up." Those ads are entirely disgusting, the tone of the ad implies that these denim diapers make the baby/toddler "sexy." Talk about playing into pedophilia. I am not one to become overly offended very often, but the recent advertising campaigns out there using children in very adult ways, goes beyond acceptable.

7-16-2010 @ 10:38AM

Marilyn said...

Anyone who has dealt with an alcoholic family member KNOWS this is simply not funny. Not one bit. I have a sense of humor--quite an active one, frankly, and often probably pretty "warped" by some standards. Babies that look drunk are NOT funny.

I do not need to "lighten up" and I am not easily "offended". I despise political correctness in any form. Substance abuse is the cause of a lot of heartache and tragedy--not the source for humor. Babies do a lot of very funny things--this is not one of them.

7-16-2010 @ 10:57AM

Ben said...

Calm down, the babies are not actually drunk..

7-16-2010 @ 10:40AM

L. W. Frank, P.E, said...

These kids all look "sleepy" to me; the entire "burden" rests on the simple-minded attitudes and behavior (what I call "de-civilized", or "lowest common denominator) of their parents, to whom being drunk must seem more "funny", than dangerous (read "stupid").

How would you like to have been one of these kids, whose photo someone manages to find, to put in your high school yearbook?

My daughters, now both in their 40s, have also thanked me for immediately trashing their first "neo-natal" photos (only Mothers appreciate those!), and we all three believe we have great senses of humor.

7-16-2010 @ 10:45AM

Noreen said...

The people who think these pictures are "cute" or whatever can't be parents. As a mother and grandmother, I find these pictures more than "offensive". That's too tame a word. To think that an adult woud give chocolates laced with alcohol to a toddler is criminal. I think it's called "endangering a minor." This is far from funny; it's sick. It comes as no surprise from a society that kills the unborn who have no rights. What a sad commentary.

sunshine said...

To those of you (which seems to be the vast majority at this point) who think it's funny to use pictures of babies who look drunk to sell an alcoholic product; I suppose you'd be equally thrilled (if not more so) of cigarette companies using babies in the same manner.

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Drunken Baby Photos? Not So Funny