A Disney-themed dress-up pub crawl set to take place next month in Dublin has been criticised by the venerable Alcohol Action Ireland as … “strange”.
The themed pub crawl – which is in no way endorsed by the Disney corporation – is being organised by British company Hullabaloo Promotions, which has previously run them in UK cities York, Nottingham, Glasgow and Norwich.
The promoter says it is “exploring” Dublin and hasn’t yet posted a schedule of pubs to be visited, but it charging participants €7 for a ticket.
Dr Bobby Smyth of Alcohol Action Ireland, which works “to reduce levels of alcohol harm and improve public health, safety and wellbeing” of the Irish people, had comments on the initiative.
“People do like dressing up, but it’s strange to encourage people to drink in children’s costumes.
“It’s important too to say this must not cross a line by choosing to advertise children’s characters.”
Ireland is known as a country that truly enjoys a tipple, despite its modest ranking of #21 on the World Health Organisation’s list of alcohol consumption, three places below Australia, but there have been moves to curtail the public drunkenness.
The popular ’12 Pubs of Christmas’ challenge that takes place annually has begun to see revellers turned away in more and more pubs in cities across Ireland.
Dr Ciara Kelly of Operation Transformation nailed the issue by describing the event as “a way of packaging a binge as a good time”.
Tickets to the Disney pub crawl are on sale and selling fast.
