Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the drink culture encourages us to drink more?

66 replies

ssd · 19/10/2017 13:01

just seen an asda advert on here...happy halloween...1 ltr spirits only £16

I often read the brave babes thread, it's so encouraging, heart breaking yet strong

yet we're bombarded by messages saying "drink more, its great!"

and drink responsibly in tiny letters at the end....

in whose interest is it to constantly promote cheap alcohol, someone must be making a huge profit from it all, keeping us on teetering on the level of alcoholics so they can ensure profits never go down

its just so wrong

OP posts:
araiwa · 19/10/2017 13:11

Dont buy alcohol then

I would never buy a bottle of wine just because it was £1 off unless i has gone to buy a bottle of wine in the first place.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 19/10/2017 13:14

I love to drink wine and would never comment on how much (or little actually, I'd never egg anyone on) others drink. It's nothing to do with me.

But I have to say, having two dc now at universities, the drinking culture that is actively encouraged has shocked me a bit. It's all about drinking to excess, especially in the first few weeks.

6demandingchildren · 19/10/2017 13:14

I also find soaps on TV are to blame as well as almost every garden summer scene involves a bottle of wine.

HarrietKettleWasHere · 19/10/2017 13:18

The thing is though that we are not 'all teetering on the level of alcoholics'. Don't catastrophise.

cheminotte · 19/10/2017 13:21

I agree - what has Halloween got to do with booze? Unfortunately you can't have an occasion without it being an excuse to drink or eat (or both) these days.

Oliversmumsarmy · 19/10/2017 13:26

I don't drink . DD doesn't drink. I was told i was tight when I threw a party for dd and told guests if they wanted alcohol they better bring it themselves.

As a parent I am amazed how dds friends are planning their lives around alcohol.

A few were trying to persuade dd to go to uni as then she could party every night.
DD tried to reason with them that
A) She doesn't drink.
And
B) As she has left college early to set up her own business she hasn't any Alevels and her business is going too well just to jack it all in for a degree which would mean nothing in the long run.

I think they were too drunk to reason.

disahsterdahling · 19/10/2017 13:31

I was on a plane last Friday evening and two guys were hauled off before we took off because they were so drunk. They were part of a stag do. The rest were still raucous, but obviously not bad enough to arrest at the other end.

Why is it "law" that you have to go overseas on a stag or hen do and get completely ratted and annoy other people?

But why were they even allowed to board the plane in the first place...

EnglishGirlApproximately · 19/10/2017 13:36

There is a whole range of drinking behaviour between alcoholism and tee total, and the majority of people are in that range. It’s interesting that there’s an underlying feeling of superiority from those that don’t drink, like anything more than being tee total is a moral failing.

VioletCharlotte · 19/10/2017 19:12

The relationship many people in this country have with alcohol isn't healthy, and I agree with the OP that these kind of offers don't help those who have a tendency to drink too much anyway. "Oh go on, have another, it is the Christmas!" Seems to have extended to "Oh go on, it is the weekend/Easter/Halloween/Summer/bank holiday, etc"

This kind of marketing reinforces the belief it's ok to binge drink on special occasions.. but thanks to consumerism, everything's now a special occasion. And the only winners are the supermarkets.

brasty · 19/10/2017 19:16

My DP does not drink alcohol, I do. Luckily he does not think that not drinking alcohol makes him superior.
Of course getting totally pissed is not okay. Although many young people do do it once, because they have not yet learned when they need to stop.

But having a glass of women or a beer is no big deal. I don't even care if that knocks a few years off my life.

StickThatInYourPipe · 19/10/2017 19:20

EnglishGirlApproximately this is completely correct!

I don't drink ever really but would never tell people that in RL, just use driving as an excuse normally. This is because if you then choose to have a drink on a random occasion you get comments and belittling.

RaininSummer · 19/10/2017 19:32

I don't buy drink very often so am quite keen to stock up once a year when there are offers on spirits. Alcoholism is terrible but I think they will get it somehow whatever the price whereas semi teetotal tightwads like me like the odd good deal.

GrumpyOldBlonde · 19/10/2017 19:37

I am on the Brave Babes thread, regular there under a different name,
we have in the past spoken a lot on the thread about this which as a lurker you may have seen ssd (I think we forget other people can read the thread, it's strange, it feels very intimate sometimes)

When I was drinking heavily it did help me to feel normal ,everyday I see memes on FB about Prosecco or gin, there are bloggers constantly talking about coping with motherhood with booze, there are gift type trinkets everywhere (mid-week wine fund savings tin, bring me wine socks)
Even the Sylvanian family supermarket has wine aisle I'm told! Plastic woodland animals like a drop of red it seems.

I never really noticed alcohol advertising before and the jokey 'wine o' clock' thing made me feel 'part of the gang' until it got too much. I have managed to quit my very heavy wine habit (not far off a year now) and those things I mention don't seem so amusing these days.

There are lots of people who can drink responsibly, many more who think they do (I was one) and many who don't drink at all or rarely.
I guess I see things differently these days and it makes me uncomfortable but then I come at it from a different angle to a lot of people.

There is no doubt though, we have a big drinking culture here and the price of alcohol and the normalisation of it does little to discourage it.

2014newme · 19/10/2017 19:39

Meh when I was a teen 30 years ago it was trebles for singles everywhere. 29p fir a shot of vodka on a club. We did not become alcoholic as a result.

HelenaDove · 19/10/2017 19:50

EnglishGirl i see the same superiority on the weight threads from those who have never been overweight.

Winenight · 19/10/2017 19:55

YANBU.

Not only is over-drinking acceptable in this culture, in some circles it is actively encouraged. Before I got pregnant (full abstaining now despite username!), it was normal to go out with girlfriends on a night out, share a bottle of Prosecco, then another one, a few cocktails. Anyone trying to moderate would be shouted down and persuaded to partake anyway. That's probably your weekly allowance gone easily in one night, not to mention the 2/3 glasses of wine over midweek evenings.

TV shows have characters with a permanent glass of red in hand. It's really pervasive, socially encouraged and I think one of the reasons why people find it so challenging to moderate or abstain.

Slowly I think we are seeing a movement towards mindful drinking with Club Soda etc. and many young people are now drinking a lot less than their parents. It will be interesting to see how the movement pans out in the next 10-20 years.

Original poster
ssd · 19/10/2017 22:54

interesting all these comments

I think it must be so hard to cut down with all the normalisation of drinking.

I hardly drink a drop these days and I dont agree with the poster who said people who hardly drink feel morally superior. I feel embarrassed, its not normal not to drink here. Its made out to be like you're boring and a party pooper.

there doesn't seem to be a happy medium

OP posts:
HelenaDove · 20/10/2017 00:32

im teetotal too.

I cant help making the observation though that if this thread was about weight it would be moving and filling up a lot faster.

On the NHS thread we even have people pointing out that the "sin tax" makes it ok.

HelenaDove · 20/10/2017 00:41

Growing up my parents didnt drink except at Christmas and then just my dad drank really. So i didnt either. I dont drink at all even at Xmas. ive never been drunk. its just my normal.

SoMuchToBits · 20/10/2017 00:44

I do think there is far more of a culture of drinking than there used to be 40 years ago (I'm an oldie, so can remember this far back!)

Part of this is due to advertising, but I think a lot is also due to the fact that alcohol was far less easily obtainable in the 60s/70s, especially at home. Most drinks for home consumption had to be bought at a wine merchants/off licence, whereas cheapish booze at the supermarket is the norm these days.

And things like stag/hen dos used to be a night out locally at a pub, with maybe a curry/meal out. Not the whole alcohol-fuelled weekend away they often are now.

SoMuchToBits · 20/10/2017 00:48

And I do drink alcohol, and have overindulged in my time, but still have never gone out with the intention of getting drunk.

When I was at Uni, most of my friends would drink to some extent, but a few didn't at all. That was just accepted and no-one batted an eyelid. I'm not sure it would be the same these days unless you had a specific reason not to drink (e.g. religion, medication, driving that evening etc).

HelenaDove · 20/10/2017 01:22

If any overeaters started a "Brave" thread on here i wonder how long it would be before unwanted advice and concern trolling appeared.

oldlaundbooth · 20/10/2017 01:52

I agree with you op, you're made out to be boring if you don't drink.

Yeah, I really fancy being shit faced and having a raging hangover whilst looking after my two small kids, thanks.

Oh, you're offering to get up early and watch them? Thought not.

oldlaundbooth · 20/10/2017 01:53

And the drinking culture is much worse in the UK than abroad.

JonSnowsWife · 20/10/2017 05:02

in whose interest is it to constantly promote cheap alcohol

The people who own it. I don't think they should be able to advertise it either.