If you’re not a football fan, watching the Super Bowl actually means watching the commercials. On average, there is about 45 minutes worth of commercials during the biggest sports event of the year. A majority of these 45 minutes of commercials are alcohol advertisements.

These advertisements are very influential on younger viewers. There are a lot of teenagers, and even children, enjoying the game that are easily influenced. The alcohol advertisements often make drinking alcohol look cool or fun, thus making children or teens want to experiment with it.  Parents can take this opportunity to bring up the subject of alcohol, underage drinking and alcohol abuse. They can have an open an honest discussion about how alcohol is portrayed on television versus how it actually is in real life.

Watching these while in recovery may also be a little difficult. These are creative ads that make you want to drink the alcohol. And if you are abstaining, it could be that much more tempting. Keep a remote nearby so you can mute these ads and help yourself out. If this isn’t helpful, try changing channels during the commercials.