What’s Caused The Decline In Drinking?

Did messaging around risk & units became more persuasive? Or did alcohol become less culturally relevant?

This stood out to me as a millennial because I drank the most when drinking culture was at its peak and stopped in 2015 at the start of the decline.

The CMO guidance of 14 units per week came in 2016 but I’m not convinced a blanket guideline drove this trend.

I see the major driver as being cultural, stemming from social media.

When Facebook arrived in 2006 it reflected drinking culture and nightlife identity.

Heavy nights were the feed because heavy nights were how people socialised in real life…. remember those photo albums dedicated to bar crawls / uni nights out?

But in the mid 2010’s health & fitness became visible & aspirational through Instagram and the way people presented online started to change.

Social media became curated and aesthetic. Hangovers started to be compared with sunrise hikes, morning routines & wellness culture. People all of a sudden started becoming health conscious.

Alcohol stopped owning everyone’s free time, it became expensive and sat in tension with the life people were trying to build / optimise / present online.

Gen Z socialising compared with older generations doesn't revolve around going out to drink, but meeting to do something... like coffee shops, getting outdoors, run clubs...

With the rise of the sober curious movement, dry jan, low & no and health & wellness, people have never been more receptive to reflecting on alcohol.

So it makes me wonder.... is behaviour change at population level driven more by culture & identity? Or risk & warnings?

Should the public health focus remain on deterring people from drinking, or accelerating and supporting a cultural shift that is already actually happening?