You cannot command the tide to turn back!

King Canute was famous, or infamous for ordering the tide to stop according to legend. Well in modern day terms that's pretty much what anyone who seeks to stop people drinking is trying to do, with I might add as much chance of success. If you really want to change peoples drinking habits then you don't just stand up in front of them and say stop! Nor do you try and blow away their minds with study upon study. You have to get clever. Just like the Dutch did when building the dikes that salvaged land from the sea. They used their brains!

Psychology is the key to turning the tide on alcohol. You can't fight it head on. Lets face it the first records of alcohol production en mass go back to the first civilisations where you will also find records of drug abuse, gambling and fornication/prostitution. The four great taboos of civilised society have in fact been present since day one of civilisation so you would not be trying to change a fashion, which lasts for a few weeks, or a trend that can last for several years.

By telling people to stop drinking you are effectively trying to turn back history, And history has a habit of not liking that!

So effectively you have to play smart and change attitudes and throwing a load of studies at people, most of whom wouldn't know a scientific study if it hit them in the face, is not the answer.

In the words of Ali G you gotta keep it real!

People need to be able to identify with what you are asking them to do and why you are asking them to do it. And remember you are fighting against a sophisticated machine called the alcohol  industry and their PR gurus who know how to stay on message and keep people on message. So you have to do a better sales job than the salesman. You have to know the tricks of the trade.

And that's where psychologists come in! You cannot command the tide to turn back you have to fool it into wanting to turn back so that eventually it does - simples eh?