Why do we drink? Let’s learn from the Advertisers

Understanding why we drink is an essential key to changing the way you drink.  Many of the ‘whys’ are based on myths about alcohols;  Alcohol relaxes me, alcohol makes me more social, the more I drink the better I feel, etc.   People like Allen Carr believe that tackling the ‘drivers’ of drinking removes the desires to drink.  Allen Carr basically turns reasons to ‘drink/smoke’ into reasons not to.  
 

Why learn from the Advertisers

Because they’re expert at influencing behaviour and using ‘positive’ association with the product they’re pushing.

Best 10 Alcohol Ads from Australia

Sorry, I'm having terrible embedding this video, so there's just a link.

These are my thoughts, feel free to adds yours too.

Advert 1

It makes things different.  Something unexpected might happen.  You’ll be living but with a different tune – fun because it’s different.

Advert 2

Beer tastes great and it’s quenches a thirst.  It’s related to sex, the tongue and the couple snogging. It’s related to the night and excitement.  The swimming with the ice – it changes your state and refreshes you.

Advert 3

It’s a manly thing to do.  Men and beer relate.  When men and beer get together, you can relax and have a good time.   The pub is a place for a man.  If you drink and you’re a man, you’re still a rebel – young at heart.  You might be married but if you're a real man, you still drink beers with the boys.

Advert 4

Beer is better than a beautiful woman.  It taste really good too.

Advert 5

Something magical happens when you drink.  You become very creative and a carnival atmosphere prevails.  Drinking beings the community together.  Everyone is happy when they drink.  It’s ok to hijack a beer lorry, if you’re hijacking it for the community use. 

Advert 6

Drink beer if you’re a man.   (nice play on the ‘politics of rounds’).

Advert 7

Beer makes you dance and brings out your hidden talents.

Advert 8

Beer solves the biggest of problems, even drought.

Advert 9

Australia is great because of Bundaberg Rum.  The UK sucks and because we all like our alcohol, we all want to move to Australia for Bundaberg Rum. 

Advert 10

Beer is epic!  It’s classical and makes us do great things.

I'll follow this up with a video of Allen Carr talking about his method for giving up smoking.  It's equally applicable to cutting down or getting up drinking.   And attempt to tackle some of the reasons these ads give us that 'drinking' is 'great'.

Any ideas about why we drink and thoughts on the adverts, please add a comment.

How to moderate your drinking – Your ideas

Who’s this for;

People who want to cut down on their drinking but haven’t been able to achieve this yet.

First thing first.

If you want to change something, it’s easier if you understand where you are now. Recording the drinks you drink is a good place to start – Review of Mydrinkaware

Also ask yourself the following questions;

How many times have I got drunk in my life?
Who do I drink with?
What do I drink?
Is the same throughout the night?
Do I change drinks?
Do I always drink the same amount?  If not, when do I drink more; when do I drink less;
When do I start drinking?
Do I drink more in the home or outside?
Where do I drink most?
What do I do when I finish a drink?
What do I feel before I drink?
Why do I drink?

This is visual representation of how I used to drink;

This is how I used to drink some nights. Beer after beer after beer. What can you do to moderate this kind of drinking?

How about this pictures;

Again beer after beer. In this pictures, there are times showing the time between emptying a beer and getting a new one.

Again the question is: What can you do to moderate this kind of drinking? There are many answers!

Also Read

Comprehensive guide to becoming a moderate drinker
Why become a moderate drinker?

Alcohol Diary - October update

Alcohol Diary


The first ten days of October I was back in the UK visiting friends and family. This was a challenging time for me as most of my moderation practice has been in the house. I’ve definitely changed my approach to drinking. It’s more moderate and I’m taking a lead in ensuring that our table in the pub has water. So overall I’m pleased about this.

I drank 4 drinks once. This is less than what I would’ve drunk in a similar situation previously. I took action to mix the drinking of beer with water. Ideally, I would’ve drunk three. I’ll have to think about what changes I can do to make this happen.

I was impressed that the pubs I went to in Bristol gave us a jug of water. This is positive move on their behalve and it was good to hear other people ordering pints of water with their drinks (though this was a Sunday).

October


1st – 250 mil bottle of beer and small glass of wine.
2nd – 0
3rd – 2 pints of Guinness with my dad. Only in pub from 9:30 to 11 that’s the main reason why I only had two pints. Previous, I would have three pints on these occasions.
4th – 0
5th – 3 pints of bitter (alcohol % ??) – in Bristol, each drink was accompanied by water. The bar gave us a jug of water. People I was with also drank moderately, previous some of us would’ve drank more.
6th – 1 and ½ cans of Guinness – at my dad’s place
7th – 1 glass of red wine – at my dad’s place
8th – 3 small glasses of red wine. No drinking water or spacing drinks – at my sister’s place
9th – 4 pints of ale. This was from 3pm until 8pm. We went to the pub earlier because my friend in Bristol had to leave very early in the morning. Acceptable, though ideally 3 pints would have been better. Again we had a jug of water on the table and each drink was accompanied by a glass of water. Refused a couple of offers for another drink.
10th – one glass of wine on the plane to the Netherlands
11th – 0
12th – 0
13th – 1 glass of red wine in my house.

September Alcohol Diary