PUSHING THE SAUSAGE: DON’T

In contrast to Australia’s declining rates of teenage drinking, authorities in Denmark have released a clever and humorous message to combat the issue.

Danish safe drinking group TrygFonden and the Danish Cancer Society commissioned the release (below), based around a young Dane named Mads and his struggle with peer-group pressure.  

In a very European irony, alcoholic beverages are substituted for the metaphor of sausages, including a very Bavarian nod to the film American Beauty, only with Mads naked and posing in a mass of frankfurts.

The message is reportedly inspired by a World Health Organisation report saying Danish teenagers were the drunkest in Europe, with young drinkers more likely to overindulge as adults. Legal drinking age in Denmark is 16 years.

A surprising 80 per cent of 15-year-olds had tried alcohol, and a third of 13-year-olds.

This puts perspective to Australia’s figures on underage drinking, as suggested by the National Drug Strategy Household Survey done every two to three years.

The most recent report, published in 2017, found not only that alcohol consumption continues to fall amongst almost all demographics in Australia, but that the sharp decline in underage drinking continues.

The average Australian teenager has not had their first drink until 16.1 years, up from 15.0 in 2007, and 82 per cent of 12-17-year-olds report complete abstinence from drinking – up from 56 per cent ten years ago.

This decline has come at least in part after years of active campaigning on the subject in Australia, bringing messages such as Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix. By comparison Denmark has not taken nearly such a hard line.

“Recent studies show that nine out of ten young Danes have been peer-pressured to drink more alcohol than they wanted,” a spokesperson for Robert/Boisen, who created the ad, told B&T.  

“That’s an outrageous number, which clearly indicates that we Danes often struggle to reflect on our alcohol culture. Alcohol is simply a ubiquitous part of our society.”