Have another pint

May 19, 2003 12:18 PM

The end of a stereotype? Ireland's Prime Minister wants to limit advertising and slap warning labels on alcoholic beverages in an effort to curtail teenage binge drinking. It doesn't seem to work too well here in the U.S., can it work in Ireland, the punch line of most drinking jokes?
posted by MediaMan (21 comments total)

Well, he is learning one thing from the US: What's more important than doing something about a problem is to look like you're doing something about it. Results take too long, image is everything.
posted by Space Coyote at 12:23 PM on May 19, 2003

*hic*
wha' spayshy jus' said.
posted by quonsar at 12:28 PM on May 19, 2003

I live in Ireland and frankly, everyone knows the health risks... they just seem to be outweighed by the benefits.

Also, advertising doesn't make you buy beer, it makes you buy a specific brand. So limiting advertising will have minimum effect.

Finally, I've seen worse drinking in Scotland than anywhere in Ireland, stereotype is almost unfounded.
posted by knapah at 12:37 PM on May 19, 2003

Sigh. The terrorists have already won.
posted by Joeforking at 12:37 PM on May 19, 2003

Punch line of drinking jokes? Whatever are you talking about?

Besides, you'd think the U.S.'s model of demonizing something only making the problem worse would serve as a fairly good warning.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:37 PM on May 19, 2003

The commission slated the proliferation of so-called ''super pubs,'' which can pack hundreds of customers into standing-room-only rooms. A few have offered headline-grabbing ''all you can drink'' specials for an entrance fee.

Seen this used @ a Dallas pub for european football events on Sunday mornings in order to get around the drinking laws of the state, yet they were trashed by noon when it was legal to buy drinks. It's in the price, the same reason folks from the UK tell me they drink more here in The States than at home, they can afford it.

Advertising would entice a brand, not a drink of alcohol. Or a drink of alcohol to take home with you; wonder where's the problem?
posted by thomcatspike at 12:46 PM on May 19, 2003

"The end of a stereotype" -- um, apparently not.
posted by chandy72 at 12:47 PM on May 19, 2003

Man, the stereotype is true. Anyone who sets foot on O'Connell St. after 12 on Thursday, Friday or Saturday would know it to be true. I've been in London, Sydney and Boston and they have nothing on the vomit and unconscious bodies and fighting in the streets of Dublin.

It makes for good photos mind.
posted by Swandive at 12:55 PM on May 19, 2003

Many were starting to drink at 13 and were addicts needing major health care by the age of 21. link from, Man, the stereotype is true.

They are going after the advertisements only?
posted by thomcatspike at 1:03 PM on May 19, 2003

Thomcatspike

Not quite, there's a push on to get ID cards for young drinkers, and pubs can be fined if they serve someone of that age without one.

The Vintners are a powerful lobby, though. Someone important will have to die from drink in some way before something gets done.
posted by Swandive at 1:09 PM on May 19, 2003

I've been searching all over for my handy-dandy, very surprising chart of world alcoholism rates by country, but I can't find it. This PDF (scroll down midway) says that England has higher alcoholism rates than Ireland (and US = 10%dependence plus abuse plus "problem drinking.") I believe America has much higher rates that some European countries that (culturally) allow children to begin drinking young.

I've heard stereotypically hard-drinking Aussies tell tales of the Scottish in Australia drinking them under the table. Then again, I've also heard Aussies speak of their mates who would purposely "chunder" so they could go back and drink more. But the point is: what's really in a stereotype?
posted by Shane at 1:26 PM on May 19, 2003

define 'die from drink'.

auto accident.
liver failure.
choked on vomit.
fell off/down something.
stabbed to death after drunkenly berating a much larger alcoholic.

alcoholics commonly die in these manners, which are usually classified as something other than 'died from drink'.
posted by quonsar at 1:28 PM on May 19, 2003

...the average Irish adult .... spent $1,400 on beer, wine and liquor.

Hmm, $1,400 U.S. is roughly $1,820 Cdn. That would pay the tuition for all the community college courses I'm going to take this year AND my phone bill for the entire year AND leave me about $140 to play with - I could buy, say, a very nice new pair of shoes.

I'm way too cheap to ever be an alcoholic.
posted by orange swan at 2:55 PM on May 19, 2003

I'm the proverbial Irish teenager these laws are supposed to save, and honestly, this is just Bertie bowing into the reactionary wing of his government (about 95% of it) It ain't gonna work: we're bored Irish teenagers - if anyone'll drink too much, it'll be us.
At the moment anti-underage drinking laws in Ireland are expansive enough, they're just never, ever enforced.
posted by Celery at 3:47 PM on May 19, 2003

this is just one more battle in the long, nasty war to rob the irish of their cultural heritage. without a doubt, ahern is no more than a pawn of the english.
posted by kjh at 4:25 PM on May 19, 2003

I can't say "Taoiseach" sober, let alone understand him drunk. Happy Friday night!
posted by m@ at 8:40 PM on May 19, 2003

$1400 a year is about $27 a week, which is a night or two out every seven days. Granted, this stat does include a lot of non-drinkers which will skew the average down. Depending on how much this is, this could be a wildly understated statistic. Taken at face value though, I don't think $27 a week constitutes a drinking problem.
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:18 PM on May 19, 2003

Quonsar

Well I'd include those, yeah. If for instance, Bertie's daughter was drunk out of her mind and crashed her car or something like that, I think the mood of the government would be slightly more inclined to curb the drinking.
posted by Swandive at 1:17 AM on May 20, 2003

I've also heard Aussies speak of their mates who would purposely "chunder" so they could go back and drink more.

Come on, we've all done that.
posted by Summer at 8:40 AM on May 20, 2003

If for instance, Bertie's daughter was drunk out of her mind and crashed her car or something like that, I think the mood of the government would be slightly more inclined to curb the drinking.

Wrong shore of the Irish Sea
posted by m@ at 10:01 AM on May 20, 2003

I've also heard Aussies speak of their mates who would purposely "chunder" so they could go back and drink more.

the tactical chunder is well-known amongst students, rugby players, anyone playing pub golf or anyone on a drinking marathon who needs to keep their end up. it's an international institution, I'd have said, not just an aussie thing.
posted by kitschbitch at 3:04 PM on May 20, 2003