Awareness raising” has become a common objective for health campaigns concerned about the dangers of alcohol. The gruesome Drinkaware television adverts and the National Health Service-sponsored posters are a case in point. They deface the back of every pub toilet door with a clear anti-drinking message. According to them, drinking alcohol leads to unprotected sex, violence and vomit (for the teenagers) and heart disease, liver failure and missed workdays (for the grown-ups).
There is a problem with this. Drinkaware campaigns totally ignore the social benefits of drinking, vilifying the majority of adults. They stifle the integration of young people into a socially acceptable drinking culture while also reinforcing the behavior they attempt to challenge. Adults know that drinking alcohol does not always cause you to throw up. Equally they also know that, no matter how hard some of us may try, a night on the town drinking more often leads to a burger at the end of the night than sex. Health warnings that don’t connect with people’s experience are easily filtered out. > > > > Read More
