'Why Alcohol Advertising is Legal Lying' with Anna Donaghey
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ever wondered how alcohol brands make booze look like the ultimate ticket to happiness, success, and social belonging? This week on Sober Awkward, we’re lifting the lid on the world of alcohol advertising with Anna Donaghey, a former London-based ad exec who spent years working on big-brand alcohol campaigns.
Anna shares insider knowledge on how the industry uses behavioural science to lure people in—crafting campaigns that convince us alcohol is our friend, our reward, and even our identity. We’ll uncover the sneaky tactics used to target mums with pink drinks, push the “work hard, play hard” mentality, and make us believe that a drink is the key to fitting in.
Today, Anna spends her time working as an alcohol mindset coach and hosting of the Big Drink Rethink Podcast.
And it’s not all doom and gloom—Anna also believes things are changing. With the rise of the sober-curious movement, new regulations, and shifting social attitudes, the industry is being forced to evolve. So, is the booze bubble starting to burst?
Join us as we unravel the glossy façade of alcohol marketing, expose the industry’s biggest tricks, and explore whether the tides are finally turning for good.
SHOW NOTES
You can connect with Anna through her website: www.thebeliefscoach.com
or on social media where her Instagram handle is @bigdrinkrethink
Alternatively you can listen to her podcast 'The Big Drink Rethink' wherever you get your podcasts.
💛 Resources & Links
📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
Our private, supportive online space for sober folk and the sober curious.
📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide
Our downloadable toolkit for ditching booze the awkward way.
📱 Follow us for daily sober fun:
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Facebook: Sober Awkward Community for Women
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The cattle's boiled, Vic. |
| 0:03.7 | Great, perfect timing. Just a dash of milk for me, please, mate. |
| 0:09.5 | Here you go. Should we get started then? |
| 0:17.3 | Have you ever woken up on a Sunday morning and said, I'm never drinking again, |
| 0:21.4 | and then found yourself waving 50 bucks at a barman by happy hour? |
| 0:25.1 | Are you wondering why everyone else can stop at one, |
| 0:27.8 | while you head to a dodgy after-party with a weird bloke called Disco Dave? |
| 0:31.6 | If so, it might be time to take a deeper look at your relationship with your reliable social crutch, alcohol. |
| 0:38.1 | On each episode, we'll investigate our own dysfunctional dealings with booze |
| 0:42.2 | and find out if it's possible to stop this deeply ingrained habit |
| 0:45.4 | before things get too messy. |
| 0:47.5 | Yep, we're going to open up a shame shed of humiliating drinking stories |
| 0:51.1 | to help you understand why waking up from a booze coma each weekend with a |
| 0:54.9 | kebab sticking out of your top pocket might actually be negatively impacting your health. |
| 0:59.9 | Hamish and I are here to delve into what it's like being sober, an unwanted warts and all look |
| 1:05.3 | into why giving up those cheeky pints or putting down those mummy wines will make you feel happier, |
| 1:12.0 | help your anxiety in mental health and turn you into the most sparkly authentic version of you. |
| 1:16.5 | Won't that mean I become boring though, Vic? |
| 1:18.3 | Well, Hamish, we'll just have to wait and see. |
| 1:20.9 | I'm Victoria Vanstone. |
| 1:22.5 | I'm Hamish Adams Cairns. |
| 1:24.1 | And this is sober awkward. |
... |
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