Drinkwise


DrinkWise Australia is an Australian social change organisation created to bring about a healthier and safer drinking culture in Australia – where drinking alcohol excessively or drinking too young is considered undesirable. Utilising targeted, integrated and sustained social marketing approaches and developing practical education initiatives and resources allows DrinkWise to inform and support the community about responsible alcohol use.
DrinkWise's philosophy is founded on industry leadership and community partnerships. It is currently funded by voluntary contributions from alcohol industry participants, and has in the past received both Coalition and Labour Government funding to support its work.
The organisation is governed by a board of eminent Australians with backgrounds including policing, public health, education, community service, academia, research and marketing. DrinkWise's alcohol industry contributors are also represented on its board.

History

DrinkWise Australia was established in 2005 and then received $5 million in funding from the Federal Government as announced by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing in the then Australian Government, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP.

Board Members

Under the DrinkWise constitution, the board must comprise seven community members and six industry representatives with the Chair being a community member. Current board members as at December 2016 are:
Community directors:
Industry directors:
None of the DrinkWise community members receive funding from the alcohol industry, although payment for their role as Board Members is provided, as it is for the Chair.

Activities

Campaigns

To date, DrinkWise Australia has launched a range of social marketing campaigns and initiatives including: Kids Absorb Your Drinking, Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix, Drinking – Do it Properly and "You won't Miss a Moment...if you DrinkWise".

Kids Absorb Your Drinking

Launched in June 2008, the Kids Absorb Your Drinking campaign marked DrinkWise Australia’s initial step towards engaging generational change in attitudes to alcohol. The campaign was created to raise awareness of the importance of role-modelling behaviour of parents in relation to their consumption of alcohol. In a 2008 media release, DrinkWise cites research that supports the view that there is a strong positive correlation between the way parents drink and how their children grow up to drink. According to DrinkWise, children form their attitudes towards alcohol a long time before they’ve had their first drink by observing how their parents and other adults around them drink.

Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix

In 2010 the Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix campaign alerted parents to emerging clinical research undertaken by Professor Ian Hickie at the Sydney University mind and brain institute that indicated that alcohol can cause damage to the developing adolescent brain. The campaign challenged parents to put aside any existing beliefs about introducing alcohol to their underage adolescents and to encourage them to delay their children’s introduction to alcohol for as long as possible. The campaign empowers parents with facts and tactics via the DrinkWise website.

Drinking – Do it Properly (18–24 year old Campaign)

In 2014, DrinkWise Australia launched an Australian first campaign designed to influence young adults to drink responsibly – by moderating the intensity and frequency of binge drinking occasions. The Drinking – Do it Properly campaign aims to make the ongoing trend of drinking to get drunk less socially acceptable among young drinkers, and to encourage those already drinking in safe and moderate ways. The campaign was developed in response to the prevalence of poor drinking choices by young Australians aged 18–24 years. DrinkWise commissioned extensive quantitative and qualitative formative research as well as multiple rounds of concept testing research to ensure the campaign cut through with young adults. To date the campaign has been in receipt of numerous international and Australian awards.

Commissioned research

Where a knowledge gap has existed DrinkWise Australia has commissioned independent academic research to ensure that its activities are underpinned by a sound evidence base:
Some health and academic commentators have noted that DrinkWise is the Australian version of the global alcohol industry-supported public relations organisations, following the example of the tobacco industry. In 2009 fifty-eight scientists and health professionals expressed their opposition to DrinkWise by signing a letter stating that they will not seek or accept funding from them, and called on other researchers and community agencies to consider their own positions. These researchers strongly oppose the perceived conflict of interest between a body that is linked to an industry that profits from the consumption of alcohol, and that also purports to funds research aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm.