booze to help raise problems that are troubling me â and you donât have to be Dr Phil to work out thatâs not a recipe for lasting love. One fledgling romance ended after less than a month when, at the end of a night filled with fine dining and flirting, I decided to bare my soul. My plan was to explain delicately that Iâd just come out of a long-term relationship, and was scared of being hurt. But my words became mangled in alcoholâs spin cycle, and instead I demanded to know where the whole thing was going, how serious he was, and what his intentions were for our future. As he fled into the night, I was left with a wilting mojito, and cartoon plumes of smoke where my beau once sat.
But Iâve not been rendered socially incompetent by removing beer from my life. Perhaps booze is just a placebo. We think it gives us confidence, so we feel confident. In fact, thereâs research to back up that theory. Several studies over the last 40 years have shown that, while alcohol undoubtedly has a chemical effect on motor performance, memory, coordination, and reaction time, social behaviour and mood changes may be influenced less by how many tequilas we knock back, and more by the expectations that we bring with us to the pub. In experiments, psychologists have shown that groups of people who were told they were drinking vodka started to display certain behaviours â for example, becoming more confident and flirtatious â even when they were only drinking tonic water. The results of these âalcohol expectanciesâ experiments suggest that, just as I use booze as a truth serum, to spill my secrets and mouth off about my frustrations, people routinely use drinking as a way to behave in ways they otherwise wouldnât because they believe theyâre drunk.
If we Australians think that drinking makes us more attractive and dynamic, itâs no wonder that so many of us canât get through the weekend without a glass of wine. These perceptions are formed from an early age. The way in which alcohol has been marketed â as if that cold beer is going to transform you from a nerdy, no-mates loser into a bronzed and shimmering demigod, fighting admirers off with a bull whip â creates the impression that booze is our social elixir. Without it, weâd be desperate, dateless, and alone. Many young Australians struggling with their identity and with trying to form relationships have learned that drinking is their ticket to belonging. In a 2008 study from the University of Wollongong, 90 per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds who were shown a series of alcohol adverts said that they thought the products shown would help them to have a good time. More than two-thirds of the 300 high-school and university students interviewed felt that drinking would make them more confident, sociable, and outgoing, while 70 per cent said that it would help them to fit in. Half thought that the drinks in the ads â which included Tiger beer, and the liqueurs Frangelico and Kahlua â would help them to succeed with the opposite sex; almost 60 per cent thought it would make them less nervous.
These perceptions have not arisen by accident. As part of a 2009 inquiry into the conduct of the alcohol industry in the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Health Select Committee obtained internal marketing documents from a number of alcohol companies and their advertising agencies. One of the key findings from the documents was the importance that alcohol producers place on selling the notion that their brands can help to foster a sense of togetherness. Internal planning documents for Carling, a leading beer brand, described it as a âsocial glueâ, stating that âowningâ sociability was the way to dominate the booze market. This was borne out by the commercial for its âBelongâ campaign, which featured a flock of starlings re-creating the word âbelongâ in the style of the
But Iâve not been rendered socially incompetent by removing beer from my life. Perhaps booze is just a placebo. We think it gives us confidence, so we feel confident. In fact, thereâs research to back up that theory. Several studies over the last 40 years have shown that, while alcohol undoubtedly has a chemical effect on motor performance, memory, coordination, and reaction time, social behaviour and mood changes may be influenced less by how many tequilas we knock back, and more by the expectations that we bring with us to the pub. In experiments, psychologists have shown that groups of people who were told they were drinking vodka started to display certain behaviours â for example, becoming more confident and flirtatious â even when they were only drinking tonic water. The results of these âalcohol expectanciesâ experiments suggest that, just as I use booze as a truth serum, to spill my secrets and mouth off about my frustrations, people routinely use drinking as a way to behave in ways they otherwise wouldnât because they believe theyâre drunk.
If we Australians think that drinking makes us more attractive and dynamic, itâs no wonder that so many of us canât get through the weekend without a glass of wine. These perceptions are formed from an early age. The way in which alcohol has been marketed â as if that cold beer is going to transform you from a nerdy, no-mates loser into a bronzed and shimmering demigod, fighting admirers off with a bull whip â creates the impression that booze is our social elixir. Without it, weâd be desperate, dateless, and alone. Many young Australians struggling with their identity and with trying to form relationships have learned that drinking is their ticket to belonging. In a 2008 study from the University of Wollongong, 90 per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds who were shown a series of alcohol adverts said that they thought the products shown would help them to have a good time. More than two-thirds of the 300 high-school and university students interviewed felt that drinking would make them more confident, sociable, and outgoing, while 70 per cent said that it would help them to fit in. Half thought that the drinks in the ads â which included Tiger beer, and the liqueurs Frangelico and Kahlua â would help them to succeed with the opposite sex; almost 60 per cent thought it would make them less nervous.
These perceptions have not arisen by accident. As part of a 2009 inquiry into the conduct of the alcohol industry in the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Health Select Committee obtained internal marketing documents from a number of alcohol companies and their advertising agencies. One of the key findings from the documents was the importance that alcohol producers place on selling the notion that their brands can help to foster a sense of togetherness. Internal planning documents for Carling, a leading beer brand, described it as a âsocial glueâ, stating that âowningâ sociability was the way to dominate the booze market. This was borne out by the commercial for its âBelongâ campaign, which featured a flock of starlings re-creating the word âbelongâ in the style of the
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