Sorry if i have missed your point MarkB but are you suggesting that reducing your alcohol intake isn't a healthy option?
I'm suggesting that it's patently obvious that that is the case, so it's bad advice, or at least unhelpful advice.
I'm pretty sure no low-carb marketing campaigns have told people to increase consumption, or even that they are a healthier option. In America they are called Lite Beers and I understand why someone would object to that. But in Australia they are called low-carbohydrate beers, which is actually quite accurate and perfectly fine. Most of them don't even advertise it strongly any more. The Hahn Super Dry ads for example are abstract and don't mention the benefits of the beer itself. Not sure about the other ones because I can't remember them.
Putting aside our obvious dislike of low carb megaswill, if you were going to treat this as a legitimate beer style and talk about it in an unbiased fashion, low carbohydrate beers would mean ones that finish with a low FG. If people desire that then I don't see what is wrong with it. It arguably makes it less bloating and easier to drink on a summers day etc (I drink Porter on a summers day by the way, just going with the popular consensus).
What I think is happening here is people are letting their hatred of megaswill and beer marketing cloud their judgement and committing a much worse act, siding with the bullshit think tanks and media wankers that are one of the main driving forces between our nanny state.
This is how these wankers work too. Divide and conquer.
This is why I'm passionate about the topic. Not because I give a crap about defending a certain type of beer.