The proof that drinking will make me ugly

You may have seen my post a couple of days ago in which I expressed my concern about the new Scottish Government campaign aimed at getting women to reduce their alcohol consumption because too much wine makes them ugly. The intervening two days have not made me any happier with this tactic.

It's bad enough when newspapers and celebrity magazines ridicule people who don't conform to a certain standard of beauty - you'd think it was a crime even going out without make-up, for example. There's a multi squillion cosmetics and beauty industry persuading women that their natural state is far from desirable. If that was the case, how on earth we managed to reproduce before there were the likes of Clarins and Revlon I don't know. For the state to latch on to that sort of poisonous culture, though, is totally reprehensible.

I hadn't been able to download the iPhone app when I wrote my original post. I have now and it only adds to my concerns. Facebook is full of teenagers rating each other for looks, a practice I find extremely worrying. Now, the Government has provided a handy app which distorts someone's features. The potential for its use in bullying is clear. I know it's not the only app which does that, but it's one which comes from the Government and that makes me feel very uneasy.

The app itself shows a mirror surrounded by lights and invites you to choose or take a photo. You then position it on the outline and it shows you what you might look like if you have 1-6, 6-10 and 10+ glasses of wine a week. Here are mine. I'll leave it to you to guess which is the real and which is the distorted image.

One thing that worries me is that there's nothing within the app to signpost you to where you can get help information about alcohol consumption, or the key messages of the campaign. If you push the words Drinking Mirror, you do end up getting taken to the website, but you'd have to know to do that.

This campaign is aimed at women like me who like the odd glass of merlot at the end of the day. Frankly, what most women like me want is extra energy cos we all have so much to do. I know that I have more energy when I avoid alcohol and I wonder if that wouldn't be a better focal point for such a venture.

Alex Neil, don't you dare tell me I'm not a pretty sight

The Scottish Government has launched a campaign today called "Drop a glass size", aimed at women to get them to cut their alcohol consumption. The theory is sound enough. Wine glasses come in all shapes and sizes and, of course, if you use a smaller glass, and have the same number of glasses a week, you'll consume less alcohol, which is a good thing.

The method, though, oh dear. Why should we stop drinking? Because it ruins our looks, apparently. Are women not already under enough pressure to look good, to conform to often unattainable standards of beauty? If we're not thin enough with perfect hair, curves, teeth and nails, then we are objects of ridicule screams every tabloid and women's magazine. I mean, how I have the temerity to go out in public, given that I conform to none of it, I don't know. It's enough to drive you to drink....

They've launched an app, the drinking mirror,  too, for your smartphone or tablet which shows you a picture of what the drink will do to you if you don't stop...I can't see how you get it on an iPhone. It's not coming up on search in the App Store and there's no link so I can't see what a dreadful sight I'd look yet. This is the blurb that comes with the app:

Is alcohol ageing you? Deeper wrinkles, red cheeks and weight gain... some of the visible effects of regularly drinking too much are not a pretty sight.

Download the FREE Drinking Mirror iPhone or Android App below and see how dropping a glass size could help you look fabulous.

Do you know what ages women? Age. The passage of time. The appearance of wrinkles and weight gain at least happens as you get older. But women aren't allowed to do that. No, they have to conform.

If they want women to cut drinking, why not base their arguments around something women actually want, not what they feel pressurised to do. I'm thinking of more energy. I know for a fact that I feel more energetic if I haven't had any alcohol than if I have. There isn't a woman in Scotland, I bet, who wouldn't want to feel less knackered and if cutting alcohol consumption can help with that, then it's a guilt free, pressure free way of persuading them to do that.

I get that basing the campaign on appearance may be an effective way of getting into women's psyche. But surely that isn't a good thing. I am annoyed with Alex Neil for signing off on this. Cutting alcohol consumption is always a good thing to do, but I feel insulted and patronised by the ethos of this campaign.