Alcohol marketers face sobering times as moderation trend grows
Lindsay Flegge normally goes out for drinks four times a week. "Margaritas are my favorite," says the 30-year-old suburban Indianapolis resident. But she hasn't had the tequila cocktail, or a drop of any other kind of alcohol, all month. "It's basically just to give my body a rest. I think we all know it's not good to be drinking alcohol all the time," she says.
Flegge is one of countless people partaking in Dry January, a one-month post-holiday abstinence movement that quietly began seven years ago in the U.K. This year the trend reached a tipping point in the U.S., spreading via word of mouth and mainstream media coverage.
While Dry January only lasts 31 days, there are signs that a more sweeping and permanent moderation movement is taking root among millennials. The generational shift is forcing bars, restaurants and alcohol brands to adapt. More low- and no-alcohol products are in development, and some, like Heineken's new no-alcohol 0.0 beer, are already hitting store shelves. Drinking establishments, meanwhile, are adding fancier non-alcoholic cocktails, or mocktails, to their menus as they look to keep their drink revenues flowing.