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My theory: Alcoholic drinks have the basic problem that they are generally unpalatable to most people, especially the first time you try them. The alcohol indus

by Gatsky 5y ago

My theory: Alcoholic drinks have the basic problem that they are generally unpalatable to most people, especially the first time you try them. The alcohol industry has a high advertising to sales ratio [1], presumably because they always need to remind people that it is cool and fun to drink hand sanitiser. Thus one movie can easily shift consumer behaviour, because nobody really ‘likes’ merlot or any grape the same way they may like fried chicken or coke (which seem impervious to bad press). (I am not advocating for prohibition or anything like that by the way. Clearly many people enjoy wine, beer and spirits in moderation, although often this follows ingrained sociocultural norms.) [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/470961/ad-spend-to-sales-distilled-and-blended-liquor-usa/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/470961/ad-spend-to-sales... Data for other industries here: http://www.rab.com/research/10014.pdf http://www.rab.com/research/10014.pdf

jffry 5y ago
I will have to hard disagree with your theory that we must all need to be constantly reminded it's fun to drink "hand sanitizer", whatever that's supposed to mean. Alcohol seems quite popular and has been quite popular for literally millenia, no massive advertising campaigns needed. The alcohol industry is highly competitive, and saturating consumers with ads can certainly influence their choice of which alcohol to buy. And lest you accuse me of being a lightweight, I regularly enjoy in moderation something actually not that far off from hand sanitizer - cask strength whisky, weighing in at 60+% ABV. Because it is undiluted out of the barrel, it provides an incredibly intense flavor and aroma that I do not need to be tricked into liking.
- deleted 5y ago
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- Gatsky 5y ago
  Yeah I also enjoy alcohol. I think it is a bit more complicated than you make out. The popularity for millenia is really when the only competing beverage was water, and even clean water was hard to get until recently. In recent times, soft drinks and juices have usurped the ubiquity of wine at the dinner table in France for example (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21929287 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21929287). Out of interest, what did you think about the whisky the very first time you tried it? Do you think it is likely that without all the notions out there about whisky to do with cachet, heritage, masculinity etc that you would have kept drinking it? That is my point. This is all quite aside from your current experience of drinking whisky, which is of course entirely legitimate and enjoyable of itself. I like beer now but the first time I had it I couldn't get one mouthful down.
  - smcameron 5y ago
    > I think it is a bit more complicated than you make out. The popularity for millenia is really when the only competing beverage was water, and even clean water was hard to get until recently. Oh, come on. People like to get drunk. It's that simple. That "the only competing beverage was water" is some kind of argument ... get real. That's completely ridiculous. People REALLY REALLY like to get drunk. Water is no competition. Has nothing to do with what the drink tastes like.
strken 5y ago
When you've been off them for a while, coke and fried chicken can be disgusting. Coke is sickly sweet with an unpleasant gaseous mouthfeel, and fried chicken is a greasy dry coating over pure protein. Coca-Cola in particular has a huge marketing budget.
noduerme 5y ago
Firstly, this is a very American view. In wine cultures (France, Italy, Spain, Argentina), children grow up tasting wine from an early age. In beer cultures (Germany, Czechia, Belgium, Holland, England) it's the same for beer. I grew up in the US but my parents let us try everything, have a glass of wine with dinner, with the idea that alcohol shouldn't be some forbidden / exotic thing that you suddenly encounter as a college freshman and binge out on. But I remember being 17 or 18 and my friends having to hold their nose and chug booze really fast because they hated the taste. I found that shocking. FWIW, all those friends love alcohol now - a bit too much, maybe. A lot of it goes to the fact that bitter, acidic, pungent things are an "acquired taste" in American culture. That's just not true in countries where children grow up with stronger flavors like real unpasteurized cheeses, fermented foods, and offal. So what you say might be true as far as ad spending influencing the basic, cheese-puff-snorting American, but the premise that alcohol is unpalatable to most people (at least, most people around the world) is a false projection. My semi-nightly movie time usually involves a bottle of wine (I change up what kind), couple squares of 90% to 100% chocolate, bowl of homemade popcorn, some American Spirit dark rolling tobacco, and a CBD+THC gummy. All those alkaloids roll around your senses like bittersweet heaven.

by Gatsky 5y ago

jffry 5y ago

I will have to hard disagree with your theory that we must all need to be constantly reminded it's fun to drink "hand sanitizer", whatever that's supposed to mean. Alcohol seems quite popular and has been quite popular for literally millenia, no massive advertising campaigns needed. The alcohol industry is highly competitive, and saturating consumers with ads can certainly influence their choice of which alcohol to buy. And lest you accuse me of being a lightweight, I regularly enjoy in moderation something actually not that far off from hand sanitizer - cask strength whisky, weighing in at 60+% ABV. Because it is undiluted out of the barrel, it provides an incredibly intense flavor and aroma that I do not need to be tricked into liking.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Gatsky 5y ago
Yeah I also enjoy alcohol. I think it is a bit more complicated than you make out. The popularity for millenia is really when the only competing beverage was water, and even clean water was hard to get until recently. In recent times, soft drinks and juices have usurped the ubiquity of wine at the dinner table in France for example (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21929287 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21929287). Out of interest, what did you think about the whisky the very first time you tried it? Do you think it is likely that without all the notions out there about whisky to do with cachet, heritage, masculinity etc that you would have kept drinking it? That is my point. This is all quite aside from your current experience of drinking whisky, which is of course entirely legitimate and enjoyable of itself. I like beer now but the first time I had it I couldn't get one mouthful down.
- smcameron 5y ago
  > I think it is a bit more complicated than you make out. The popularity for millenia is really when the only competing beverage was water, and even clean water was hard to get until recently. Oh, come on. People like to get drunk. It's that simple. That "the only competing beverage was water" is some kind of argument ... get real. That's completely ridiculous. People REALLY REALLY like to get drunk. Water is no competition. Has nothing to do with what the drink tastes like.

strken 5y ago

When you've been off them for a while, coke and fried chicken can be disgusting. Coke is sickly sweet with an unpleasant gaseous mouthfeel, and fried chicken is a greasy dry coating over pure protein. Coca-Cola in particular has a huge marketing budget.

noduerme 5y ago

Firstly, this is a very American view. In wine cultures (France, Italy, Spain, Argentina), children grow up tasting wine from an early age. In beer cultures (Germany, Czechia, Belgium, Holland, England) it's the same for beer. I grew up in the US but my parents let us try everything, have a glass of wine with dinner, with the idea that alcohol shouldn't be some forbidden / exotic thing that you suddenly encounter as a college freshman and binge out on. But I remember being 17 or 18 and my friends having to hold their nose and chug booze really fast because they hated the taste. I found that shocking. FWIW, all those friends love alcohol now - a bit too much, maybe. A lot of it goes to the fact that bitter, acidic, pungent things are an "acquired taste" in American culture. That's just not true in countries where children grow up with stronger flavors like real unpasteurized cheeses, fermented foods, and offal. So what you say might be true as far as ad spending influencing the basic, cheese-puff-snorting American, but the premise that alcohol is unpalatable to most people (at least, most people around the world) is a false projection. My semi-nightly movie time usually involves a bottle of wine (I change up what kind), couple squares of 90% to 100% chocolate, bowl of homemade popcorn, some American Spirit dark rolling tobacco, and a CBD+THC gummy. All those alkaloids roll around your senses like bittersweet heaven.