I’m sure there is a logical reason for this. Why do they never show a person drinking the alcoholic beverage they are advertising on TV? For instance, in beer commercials, they show the beer being poured into a glass and handed to the person, or they open a beer bottle and hand it to the person, but never do you see the person take a drink.
And although the answer to this one may be obvious, why do they not use real alchohol on TV shows? Sometimes the fake stuff is obviously so fake, believable doesn’t even enter into the equation.
Because they’re working, and if you have to do six or eight takes, that could add up to a lot of drinking. (I suspect that’s the obvious answer.) The other thing that occurs to me is that a fair number of actors have alcohol problems and need to avoid it.
No, there is no logical reason. There is a legal reson which is very different. They can’t legally show people drinking in alcohol commericals. It would corrupt us. Much like hearing f-u-c-k pronounced out loud. Civilization would fall.
I thnk whiterabbit’s right about the second question (although it would have made Cheers a lot more realistic.)
I don’t think it’s against the law, I think it’s an industry set standard. Cecil tackled this question long ago. I searched the archives but couldn’t find it.
In addition, all those takes make the beer quite warm and possibly flat if it’s in mugs, not straight from an unopened bottle. If you’re an actor, pray you’ll never have to actually eat anything during a scene, because it will be quite nasty by the last take.
Exactly, when you see people eat or drink on TV or in movies you almost never see them swallow. Most actors just chew and spit it out as soon as the director yells cut.
Often, when there is drinking, it’s not alcoholic. Tea makes a good substitute for whiskey, and sparkling apple cider is a reasonably close substitute for beer. For clear drinks like vodka or gin, water is sometimes used. Other juices substitute for mixed drinks like cosmos or screwdrivers.
I don’t have a cite, but this comes from a working actor who spoke to my old AA group.
I don’t have a cite either, but you can’t do that when you’re advertising alcohol. I remember reading a book about food photography where the author describes how to craft fake ice cream using putty but warns that it’s illegal to use fake food in ads for that food (the ice cream was for an insurance commercial).