COMMENT: If it bleeds, it leads…

If you were to read some of the headlines from middle England newspapers you would be under the impression that we are currently being engulfed by a tidal wave of booze.  “Binge Britain”, is the usual shorthand for what is portrayed as an epidemic. “If it bleeds, it leads” as the saying goes.  The headlines may seem silly and overly-dramatic, yet off the back of this hysterical press coverage, the government too often derives damaging policy – taking as read (literally) that we are being brought to our knees by binge drinking. 

I don’t wish to trivialise these important issues and we, at Noctis are arguing strongly that cheap off trade alcohol is, in many locations changing the tone of areas – not for the better. What is also clear though – looking at CGA’s annual Noctis/Galaxy survey that most people are relatively sensible in their consumption and their attitudes to alcohol. 

If we look at the CGA figures on consumption levels it shows that the vast majority of customers say that they would consume either 2-5 drinks per week (29%) or 6-10 drinks per week (30%).  Those who consume no alcohol (4%) or over 20 drinks per week (7%) actually represent tiny minorities of the total numbers of people who use the night time economy.  It seems Binge Britain is an urban myth – albeit a pretty potent one.

The government’s own figures tell an interesting story. From the Home Office Official Bulletin: “alcohol-related violent crime fell by a third from 1.5 million incidents in 1997 to fewer than 1 million in 2007/08”.   However: “over the past five years, the proportion of people who think drunk and rowdy behaviour in public places is a fairly big or very big problem in their area rose from 22% to 25% of those asked.”

This is crux of the issue.  Whilst alcohol related crime and disorder is falling – the general public think it is getting worse.  This was precisely the conundrum that we were pondering when we were asked by A-B InBev to address a social norms conference in Brussels to talk about the practical applications of social norms in the UK licence trade.  The situation we find ourselves in with regard to alcohol related violence perceptions being massively out of kilter with reality is a textbook opportunity to try and rebalance attitudes.

Often this involves a very simple inverting of the headlines – taking a positive look rather than a negative one. If we look, for example, at the Tackling Underage Sales of Alcohol Campaign (TUSAC) which took place in 2007.  This was targeted enforcement campaign based upon on those premises which the police believed were causing a problem and yet 71% of premises still passed inspection.  The emphasis however when the figures were published was on the minority figure – the 29% of those targeted premises which were a problem. 

Many responsible operators, either consciously or unconsciously by having a good door policy, decent standards of service and nice venues are actually conforming to the social norm by letting in those customers who are in the majority and drink reasonably responsibly.  I use the phrase “reasonably responsibly” advisedly as we have to keep reminding the powers-that-be that late night venues need to be lively – that’s want young people want and expect – usually as a deserved treat for a hard week at work or college.

At Noctis we encounter a large amount of first hand cynicism out there – not least from those officials and decision makers who believe that the “alcohol industry” is somehow trying to spin a good story for its own ends.  The truth however, is that most operators are decent and so are most customers.   What is equally true is that operators are working extremely hard, expending a massive amount of time, energy and money to make their venues safe and attractive places to visit.  The problem with getting this message out is it simply doesn’t sell!

The A-B InBev conference is a good opportunity to air some of these important issues and try to break down such urban myths as “Binge Britain”.  Perhaps a phrase which is much nearer to the truth is that we are being engulfed by a much scarier tidal wave: “whinge Britain”.  Let’s hope that phrase catches on!