Campaign promotes mature attitude to alcohol

THE twin evils of drunkenness and anti social behaviour are the targets of a new advertising campaign launched yesterday.

Entitled Had Enough, the nationwide campaign has been put together by the drinks industry funded Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society (MEAS), who also run the drinkaware.ie website.

The ads focus on the effect that drunken conduct can have on a range of innocent parties, including A&E nurses, people walking alone, taxi drivers, shop workers and neighbours of a noisy house party.

“The message is powerful in its simplicity: The days of drunken behaviour being acceptable to Irish society are over,” said MEAS chief executive Fionnuala Sheehan, “The primary aim of the campaign is to remove the social permission for public drunkenness and anti-social behaviour that has been tolerated in Ireland for so long.”

Lobby groups representing nurses and taxi drivers are among those who have co-operated with the effort.

The Had Enough dramatic treatments depict a woman being harassed on a street; an elderly gentleman at home reacting to a noisy house party next door and a drunken female getting sick in the back of a taxi. In all cases, the principal characters — the social innocents — turn to the camera and say, “I’ve had enough”.

The campaign will also feature in bars, nightclubs and cinemas, along with extensive outdoor, commuter, online and radio advertising.

“Research into how young adults feel about excessive drinking, public drunkenness and the entrenched cultural perceptions in Ireland around the whole issue of alcohol consumption, showed that Irish society is ready for a new strategic approach to addressing the negative consequences of alcohol abuse and misuse,” said Ms Sheehan.

The Irish Nurses’ Organisation contributed to the consultation process and is backing this drinkaware.ie campaign. “Over one quarter of patients with an injury in A&E had consumed alcohol prior to the injury. Irish nurses have had enough of such drunken behaviour — it’s not OK anymore,” said general secretary Liam Doran.

Irish Taxi Federation president John Ussher highlighted the reality for many Irish taxi drivers. “There are over 20,000 taxis on the streets of Ireland and most taxi drivers have had to scrub vomit off their back seats, all because people don’t know when they’ve had enough to drink.”