How music videos promote binge drinking

The greatest music video lovers are teenagers. The current trend of music videos has reached the point of portraying profanity in a guiltless way. If it’s not skimpily dressed women and men promoting sexuality (degrading women at every level), it’s a bunch of drunk people either high on drugs or drinking alcohol from glasses bigger than bowls. If anyone asked a teenager today what their favorite music video or song is, they will definitely confirm Rihanna’s Cheers (I drink to that) or her other song ‘We found love’. This is so because these music videos are constantly aired on Television exposing these youngsters to them. When shooting these music videos, a target audience should be confirmed including the message being put across. It shouldn’t just be about making the money but also educating, informing and entertaining - positively. This is why Old Skool music still has its place in society today. In an Interview with The New Times, Jane Uwimana, a journalist with Radio 10, said its not only alcohol portrayed in the videos but also drugs and indecent attire. “The content kids consume from these indecent music videos is appalling. If only artists can realize the impact, they have on kids they would do it differently. They would definitely revise the content they produced in music videos,” Uwimana said. She also said that artists should put the future of their audience into consideration. According to Mani Martin, a renowned Rwandan artist, music videos depends on the message the musicians want to portray. “There are those artists that aim at denouncing the act of drinking alcohol and its dangers to people especially the youth; that kind of music video would be appropriate for the youth to watch. But music videos that misguide us should be discouraged,” Mani Martin said. An example of one of Mani Martin’s most loved songs is ‘Icyo dupfana kiruta icyo dupfa’ literally translated as ‘What binds us outweighs our differences,’—an example of good music.“It’s scary seeing teenagers drink alcohol like there is no tomorrow. Youth usually copy what their favorite artists do because in most cases they are their role models. Therefore, we have to be very careful about the messages we put across in our music videos,” Mani emphasizes.