to think the drink culture encourages us to drink more?

[ssd]

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 I agree but on MN whenever anyone says something like this, they're shouted down or told to mind their own business by a loud majority.

I get what OP is saying. The thing is, I avoid advertising as much as possible anyway. There are lots of ways to do this. Else We're bombarded with all sorts of adverts I don't want to see (for things I don't need to buy, that won't benefit me). Antibac spray, cars, food, drink, clothing... If you take steps to avoid advertising, you don't see these bad influences. If you decide to let so much advertising into your life, then so be it, you made your choices.

In contrast to others, I find the binge drinking culture has declined hugely in last 25 yrs. Young people have become "Generation Sensible" and all that.

How do you avoid advertising lijkk? I started the kids on CBeebies and now they mostly watch iplayer and DVDs but there are still ads on billboards as you walk down the street and on the back of buses.

It's funny that someone said upthread that on mumsnet you are always shouted down by a majority if you say you are tee total. I've always thought it to be the other way round. Mumsnet always has a lot of discussion about alcohol, mostly of the 'I rarely drink' variety.

I do drink alcohol, regularly but not excessively (a couple of glasses of wine on a Friday and Saturday night usually). I cringe at seeing people so drunk they can barely stand. But yet, 20 years ago that was me at the weekend. It's a phase that a lot of people go through and most grow out of. But I do feel ashamed with hindsight.

I'm not convinced that it's a new thing to see alcohol in TV dramas/comedies etc. If you watch re-runs of 1970s shows you'll see male characters sitting down to a whiskey. The difference now is that female characters are sitting with a glass of wine. A lot of the moral outrage in recent years about alcohol isn't just about people drinking alcohol, it's about women drinking alcohol.

I agree that there’s a massive drinking culture now for middle class and middle aged women/couples that there never was previously. Wine/gin/prosecco o’clock all over social media. I can’t say I really get it!! I like a nice drink on an occasion and sometimes will have one of a non-work evening with dh at Home, but I have been berated when I’ve said no to another glass when out with friends. I certainly wouldn’t buy cheapo booze for the sake of it esp for Halloween - which is for kids!!!

oh I get drinking, it's quite nice and social and it puts you at ease, but now at my age one glass of wine kills me the whole next day

I think there's probably loads of people like me who drank loads in their 20's but just cant handle it now and dont really bother one way or another, I'm very live and let live, but the in your face advertising and fun aspect of it all bothers me

but all the in your face advertising is too much...now I've just seen this weeks book giveaway is called Why Mummy Drinks

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/book_giveaways/3056421-Apply-for-your-free-copy-of-hilarious-and-embarrassingly-relatable-novel-Why-Mummy-Drinks-Giveaway-ends-Monday-23-October

described as hilarious and embarrassing, maybe it is...

then when reading the brave babes thread you realise its anything but hilarious , its horrifying and something that destroys you and takes over your life

what I'm trying to say is, drinking should not be trivialised and dismissed as a fun past time

I like a drink but I think the biggest influence is the fact that teen drinking is so normalised. Parents on here ALL.THE.TIME. who see no issue with their young, underage children drinking at home or parties because 'they'll do it anyway' and 'all teens drink'.
Um, no, they don't. So making it an essential part of life starts earlier and earlier and drinking is just a thing you do. And if it's advertised cheap, even better

Yes young people years ago used to get drunk but it was on lager, beer and cider because spirits were expensive.

Now they go straight into the vodka gin or whiskey.

@GrumpyOldBlonde -so glad you're still doing well (I'm an old babe but had to name change a long while back).

I completely agree that wine o'clock, drink for Easter/Christmas/Halloween/Friday/bedtime is a huge normaliser for people who seek justification. And the prices of alcohol can get ridiculously cheap (at one point in my local Tesco, 24 fosters were cheaper than 4 litres of Diet Coke).

No, no one has to drink and no one is forcing them. The normalisation of buying in bulk and drinking for any occasion is the worry.

what I'm trying to say is, drinking should not be trivialised and dismissed as a fun past time

But drinking is a fun pass time for millions of people who don't have a problem with it.

Equally, eating junk is also a fun pass time for people who don't have a problem with it.

It should only never be trivialised when someone does/has an addiction or serious problem with it.

And the same could be said for anything really.

*Yes young people years ago used to get drunk but it was on lager, beer and cider because spirits were expensive.

Now they go straight into the vodka gin or whiskey.

I think this was always the way, or certainly has been for a long time. When I was a teenager (early 90s) no one drank beer or cider because they didn't like the taste. It was always spirits because you could mix them with something sweet, and because the sole purpose of drinking it was to get drunk. Most people drank vodka.

It was only as we got older that we learned that it could be pleasurable to have a drink of something like beer or wine because they taste nice. And that getting drunk isn't the aim.

Pretty much teetotal here too (bar the odd half glass at a wedding). Such interesting responses to your very agreeable thoughts, OP.

DH and I don't drink. DH is a GP, sober 25 years- his dad was an alcoholic as was DH. He's been dry since the age of 30. unquestionably the majority of his patients come to see him due to alcohol related problems, especially how relationships and family dynamics are surreptitiously crippled by alcohol consumption. I'm not British and I have to say that alcohol is the elephant in the living room in my adopted culture.

I never drank a drop until I came to England over 20 years ago. My flat mates thought I was weird spending my Saturday mornings swimming at the local pool or going to Portobello market instead of nursing a hangover with them. I adapted quickly and joined the ranks! By 25 years old, two bottles of wine over dinner with the boyfriend was the norm. Our arguments were certainly fuelled by booze. I stopped drinking in my 30s. Motherhood encouraged my decision. There's nothing like seeing a bunch of drunk parents at a school fete to make you want to stay pretty much dry for the duration.

I don't think advertising is to blame. Nobody forces people to drink.

What happens is there's always alcohol at home for many and a nightly drink/s is the norm, the chidren copy from their teens and the cycle repeats. Drinking is part of life for many sadly, I know very few people now that don't drink.

So many seem to have lost the ability to enjoy themselves or wind down after a hard day without resorting to alcohol.

I don't agree with this. I think whether a person can drink responsibly or not is down to them and nothing to do with advertising. I hate blaming adverts/cheap deals etc for people neglecting their health.

treaclesoda, the drinking culture in young people hasn't always been vodka based. I'm much older than you, and when I was a teenager in the 70s, alcopops hadn't been invented. Everyone I knew who drank alcohol drank either beer or cider. Wine was something only consumed at Christmas/a meal out, and spirits were far too expensive to buy in a pub.

YANBU. In my opinion ending cheap alcohol in supermarkets would be a step forward.

I don't drink. It's never crossed my mind as an issue. I feel neither superior nor inferior because of it. I live in Australia.

It struck me the other day when someone - who objectively works a menial/predictable and not particularly taxing job - said they liked a few drinks "to relax after work". Why do you need booze to relax?

SoMuch I'm so used to discovering that I am one of the older people in a discussion on mumsnet that when a previous poster talked about 'in the past' I was just thinking of my own youth!

I walked past my local offie the other day and it had a poster covered in lovely autumn leaves and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Autumn is here it proclaimed, because what better way to celebrate Autumn than by getting shit faced on whisky?

Easy for me as I don't like the stuff - but I've never felt pressured through uni, real life and onwards. My friends do drink but not to spew and fall levels - who would want to be with skanky saddos like that anyway?

Don't be a saddo, don't associate with them and certainly don't breed with them.

I changed my habits when I moved abroad to work. My new friends had fun but didn't feel the need to get drunk, I never knew when to stop which was the same for my friends back home. I rarely drink now and feel so much better for it. I don't feel morally superior but I have been called boring by people who are heavy drinkers, it works both ways people who like a drink can be very judgemental too.

Autumn is here it proclaimed, because what better way to celebrate Autumn than by getting shit faced on whisky?

But why would you assume that drinking whisky equals getting shit faced?

I just came on to acknowledge GrumpyOldBlonde, that was such a great post and made me think of how difficult it must be to rein in something that you've come to see almost as a 'friend'.

I don't drink now but I did when I was young, just to get drunk. I think people underestimate peer pressure and the normalising of chemical highs with more and more people struggling with them. I never struggled with drinking but I smoked for 20 years and the only thing missing from my reading of GrumpyOldBlonde's post in respect of my smoking, was the acceptance of it. It's not there now but going back 60-80 years if memes would have been around then, it would have been just the same.

Keep going, GrumpyOldBlonde, more power to you. :)

treaclesoda - I'm such an oldie!

But yes, ForalltheSaints that's something else that has changed. Cheap booze in supermarkets. When I was growing up supermarkets were a new thing. Before that you had to buy alcohol from wine merchants or off licences, or go to the pub.

I think it was much harder to walk into your local wine merchant (where you would know the person serving you) and buy loads of alcohol than it is to load your trolley with it in a supermarket, where you are quite anonymous.