Cheers! Industry backs alcohol drink size campaign

Alcohol producers have launched a campaign to counter what it calls widespread ignorance of a standard drink.

It says research commissioned by its consumer information programme Cheers! shows that nearly two-thirds (61%) of participants in a survey of 1500 people aged 16-65 did not know why a standard drink is an important measure.

In addition, as a group, they could not correctly identify a standard drink from a range of options 38% of the time.

Adult binge drinkers and parents of teenagers achieved the worst results, while women under 30 fared the best.

The standard drink mark is carried on all alcohol packaging and is designed to inform consumers about how many standard drinks are contained in the vessel.

A standard drink contains 10g of pure alcohol, which is the amount of alcohol the average person can process in one hour.

“The simple fact is that if you don’t know how much you’re pouring then you don’t know how much you’re drinking,” Cheers! programme director Jessica Venning-Bryan says.

“And if you don’t know how your body processes alcohol – that each drink takes an hour to metabolise, and its effects are cumulative – then you’re not in the best position to make good choices that will keep you safe and social when you’re drinking.”

While the data is concerning, she says it also presents an opportunity to help people become more drink aware.

In response to the challenge highlighted in the research, Cheers! is launching a range of glassware on which a standard drink is clearly marked at a range of strengths. Sets of glassware are available free of charge at cheers.org.nz.

“We wanted to do something genuinely useful to help people improve their knowledge of standard drinks, and enable them to make better choices as a result,” she says.

 The most commonly under-estimated as a standard drink are:

• A bottle of 5% beer – 55% say this is less than or equal to a standard drink. It is, in fact, 1.3 standard drinks.
• A large glass of wine – 31% say that this is less than or equal to a standard drink. It is 1.5 standard drinks.
• A 335 ml bottle of an 8% RTD – 27% say that this is less than or equal to a standard drink. It is 2.1 standard drinks.

Survey details: All people aged 16-65 formed a total sample size of 1500. Conducted online from Nov 7-18, 2012. All data weighted back to 2006 census for age and gender. Margin of error +/- 2.5%. Conducted by Big Picture, Auckland. www.bigpic.co.nz