£100m anti-binge campaign goes live

Pubs are to be asked to display posters, beermats, stickers and shelf-strips backing a £100m campaign to tackle problem drinking among the young which launches today.

The Campaign for Smarter Drinking, launched by Drinkaware, is aimed at encouraging 18 to 24 year olds to evaluate their drinking habits and in the long term, change the social acceptability of drunkenness.

The initiative, previously known as Project 10 after drinks indsutry chiefs were summoned to Downing Street by Gordon Brown, is being launched alongside new research from Drinkaware showing that one in three young adults (32 per cent) claim they don't need advice about alcohol.

This is despite the fact that in the last year, almost one in four (23 per cent) have been ashamed of their appearance when drunk, 25 per cent have not known how they got home, nearly one third (31 per cent) have blacked out, one in 10 (nine per cent) have been in a fight and just under half (48 per cent) have vomited due to drinking too much.

As well as featuring in pubs, bars, phoneboxes, supermarkets and off-licences the campaign's 'Why let good times go bad?' logo and strapline will be featured on 13 million products, including neck labels on bottles.

Free pints of water from pubs, bars and clubs to encourage young adult drinkers to pace their drinking is one of four themes people will see linked with the campaign.

Funded by the drinks industry in partnership with government, the campaign is being billed as the biggest ever responsible drinking campaign the UK has ever seen.

Chris Sorek, chief executive of Drinkaware, said: "When people are drinking and having fun it can be easy to get carried away and not recognise the point when a good night can take a turn for the worse. Changing the drinking culture in Britain won't happen overnight, but with the right support, information and advice, young adults can change their own drinking patterns."

Home Secretary Alan Johnson added: "Alcohol-related violent crime has fallen by a third since 1997, but no-one is suggesting the job is done. We must educate our young people that binge-drinking is socially unacceptable and can have grave consequences.

"We are determined to tackle alcohol fuelled crime and disorder which damages our communities, ruins lives and costs the UK economy billions each year in police and hospital resources."

For more on the campaign visit www.drinkaware.co.uk​