Drink Rev Momentum Meals
Meals of all kinds are great opportunities to create community: breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, picnic, barbecue, taking a walk with simple snacks, coffee or tea time… it’s about the occasion to share food and moments. Arrange a gathering for your friends or co-workers, for the members of your NGO, or the supporters or target group of your organization. People long for community and for meetings in real life. And people enjoy talking about their thoughts and reflections regarding alcohol, the alcohol norm and going alcohol-free. Make it possible for them. Create the momentum. Prepare some snacks, mix some Magic Drinks (or do all that together with the guests), arrange a nice place to meet (or just take a walk while snacking), check out the discussion topics we’ve prepared and you are all set. Bon appetite!
Get to know each other round:
1.
Here are some suggestion for what can be interesting to chat about to learn more about the other person: What is your first childhood memory? What do you need that money cannot buy? What have you rebelled against in the past – and what are you rebelling against now?
2.
The best next step is to talk about which of the questions under the Drink Rev Signature Questions and Topics is THE question according to you and why. So check out the discussion topics, choose one question and share why did that topic catch your attention.
Ready, steady, go We actually hope that you have already smoothly transitioned to discussing the most interesting questions.
Alcohol norm
DRINK REV SIGNATURE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
In any given year, 62% of the global adult population lives free from alcohol. Nevertheless, there seems to be stigma attached to going alcohol-free, even if it’s just for a party, a weekend, or and alcohol-free challenge. Have you had an experience of feeling coerced to use alcohol or felt stigmatized or excluded for choosing not to consume alcohol? People use alcohol in all kinds of occasions. Alcohol appears to be a magic substance that is believed to be healthy; that is believed to generate pleasure; that is believed to be integral to social life; that is synonymous with partying and at the same time essential for moments of romance or relaxation. When people use alcohol they do so to mark an achievement, commiserate a loss, celebrate or mourn, get turned up or wind down. Taking a step back from the alcohol norm, isn’t all that a bit strange? Isn’t it weird that many alcohol consumers have to practice to like and enjoy the taste of alcoholic beverages? Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, addictive drug that causes cancer, heart disease and many other problems. Instead society treats it like a fun, luxurious and often aspirational status symbol.
1.
What shapes our collective view of alcohol and what shapes your views around alcohol? Who shapes them and how?
2.
Are there examples when you’ve thought about the alcohol norm?
3.
How can we flip the script and increase acceptance of the choice to go alcohol-free (no matter the length of the period or the reasons for the choice)?
Alcohol harm
DRINK REV SIGNATURE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
Alcohol harm is pervasive in countries and communities around the world. Every 10 seconds a person dies due to alcohol-related causes. And alcohol-related injuries, disabilities and diseases are of epidemic proportions. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer and alcohol harm costs billions of dollars every year, in societies around the world. At the same time alcohol harm seems woven into the social fabric of our communities, families, workplaces and schools, that it is become normalized and invisible, simply part of what life is like.
1. 2.
Within your community (in the place you live, in the place you work or study, in the place you spend your leisure time), do you notice alcohol-related harm and if so what kind of harm is it? And do you see that measures are being taken to prevent and reduce that harm? What do you think about those efforts (if they exist and if you know about them)?
Big Alcohol
DRINK REV SIGNATURE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
Behind the pervasive alcohol norm and the epidemic levels of alcohol harm, there is an alcohol industry that produces, sells and promotes harmful products. The purpose of Big Alcohol is to sell more alcoholic beverages and generate ever more profits, regardless of the consequences for people, families, communities and societies. To that end, the alcohol industry uses a whole host of unethical business practices.
1.
What are some of the strategies and tactics Big Alcohol employs to promote and sell their products?
2.
Are you aware of myths about alcohol that promote consumption? If so, share and list them and discuss why they are myths and what reality is like.
3.
In what ways is Big Alcohol similar to Big Tobacco?
4.
How can the public be better informed about the strategies, tactics, business practices and myths of the alcohol industry?
Advocacy for Change
DRINK REV SIGNATURE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
Much of the alcohol harm that burdens communities is entirely preventable. There’s formidable evidence about the impact and cost-effectiveness of solutions. And yet few policy makers, health professionals and advocates engage in discussions about solutions.
1.
In your opinion, why does alcohol not get the attention and response proportionate to the harm it causes?
2.
What stops you personally from discussing and doing more about alcohol harm in your community?
3.
In your opinion, what can we do together to overcome personal, social, and political inertia concerning efforts to prevent and reduce alcohol harm?
4.
How can we make alcohol policy measures more appealing and attractive to both the public and policy makers?
#YesToMore #DrinkRevolution
Drink Revolution is a global social movement of people celebrating an alcohol-free lifestyle – be it for a night, a weekend, a month or year or an entire life. We are about freedom and joy – freedom from an intoxicating and pervasive alcohol norm; freedom to live and party and enjoy exactly like we choose to, without pressure from the alcohol industry. Drink Revolution is a campaign by IOGT International.
www.drinkrevolution.global