Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain

Abstract

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Cheers! Selling Health and Happiness: Advertising Alcohol in New Zealand, c.1900-1945

“…13 Hands argues that the need for profit, combined with the medicinal use of alcohol, allowed the advertising and alcohol industries to give rise to the promotion of alcoholic drinks claiming medical benefits. 16 And this claim could equally be applied to New Zealand advertisements. 17 Alcohol was not only a means of relaxing and enjoying life, or for marking secular or religious occasions: alcohol was a valued aid in emergency situations.…”

“…97. patients. 12 Two years following Barr's recommended 'therapeutic use of alcohol', Dr Harry Campbell addressed the British Society for the Study of Inebriety asking for clarification of what constituted a moderate dose as he suggested the term was 'highly elastic' with individuals having different opinions as regarding dosage. 13 Hands argues that the need for profit, combined with the medicinal use of alcohol, allowed the advertising and alcohol industries to give rise to the promotion of alcoholic drinks claiming medical benefits.…”

“…11 The Prohibition and Temperance campaigns would have placed Wolfe's market under threat, especially during the period when the No-Licence campaign was active: the time when this advertisement appeared. 12 The purity of Wolfe's is emphasised, indicating that quality is more important than quantity, so even "the smallest quantity is beneficial". A little, this advertisement implies, is all that is needed, and Wolfe's Schnapps advertising continued in New Zealand for many years.…”

“…The justification for this belief, Preston argues, is that expert knowledge "is the basis for the endorsement". 16 That such recommendations come from unnamed doctors, connoisseurs and hospitals, mean that the information given is implied only, and this therefore invalidates the advice and praise. Further, the use of endorsements, authority figures and institutions, moves the emphasis of the advertisement away from the product and onto positive voices of promotion, that is, anonymous doctors and hospitals.…”

“…Conrad Bollinger's Grog's Own Country, covering New Zealand's liquor licensing system and the legislation controlling the liquor industry, describes how the industry adapted and worked within licensing and legislative constraints. 12 Describing battles between prohibitionists and the liquor industry, he outlines the long, bitter fight to remove 6 o'clock closing and focuses on the behaviour of the liquor industry and the anti-drink brigade and, he argues, they each co-opted the cause for their own benefit. Paul Christoffell's thesis 'Removing Temptation: New Zealand's Alcohol Restrictions, 1881-2005 discusses the history of alcohol legislation and in a 2008 NZJH article, he details the everpresent trifecta surrounding New Zealand's alcohol debate -legislation, temperance and the liquor trade, and puts forward the premise that controlling the availability of alcohol by legislation, would curb harm.…”