Blackouts in the media
| You do not have to look far to find reports in the media of people experiencing blackouts. For instance, the February 4, 2004, episode of MTV's The Real World focused on an en bloc blackout experienced by one of the female roommates. After a night of drinking at a bar with her roommates, she awoke with no memory of the events of the preceding night. The MTV cameras documented that she engaged in a wide range of activities, including heavy flirtation with one of her male roommates, which she initiated and |
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| pursued. The following day, she called her serious boyfriend back home and explained to him that she had no memory of what she did the night before, but that she might have cheated on him. Click play below to watch the MTV preview for this episode, which presents the key elements of the story. |
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(Please click here if the clip does not start, as it might not with some versions of Netscape. Viewing the clip requires the Microsoft Windows Media Player plugin)
The fact that blackouts occur when anyone, even social drinkers, make the mistake of drinking too heavily has been used in several recent advertising campaigns, like the one for Smirnoff Ice to the right.
Similarly, the following commercial for mineral water highlights the wisdom in switching to water after a few drinks in order to avoid a blackout. The commerical also captures the impulse control problems and resulting risky behavior that can occur at doses of alcohol necessary to produce blackouts.
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The following two bizarre commercials, both for IBC Rootbeer, take a similar approach to selling non-alcoholic beverages. They raise the spectre that drinking too heavily could lead you to do all kinds of craze things that you might not remember the next day.
In addition to the instances of blackouts seen in movies, television and print advertising, media reports of court cases involving blackouts are also common. On July 3rd, 1995, in the midst of an alcohol-induced blackout, 24 year old Kevin Price drove his car the wrong way on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. He crashed into a van carrying members of a church group, killing five of them.
The story was the focus of an episode of ABC's 20/20 in October, 1999. The transcript of the episode can be viewed by clicking here. It will open in a new browser window and is well worth reading. |
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The article below discusses an incidence of air rage in which the defendant claims to have blacked out after drinking and taking a sleeping pill.
The image below includes an excerpt from a 2001 CNN article about the Michael Skakel murder trial. In it, sources suggest that Skakel told them he might have been in the midst of a blackout during the murder, which occurred when he and the victim were both 15 years old.
Finally, below is an excerpt from an article regarding actor David Hasselhoff's battle with alcohol, in which he mentions experiencing blackouts.
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