Analysis: Alcohol in adland and its impact on staff
Content warning: This story discusses alcohol dependency, mental health, and suicide. If you, or someone you know, needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
It would appear adland has a drinking problem, and it is impacting staff of all levels, isolating non-drinkers and addicts alike. In this extended feature, Mumbrella’s deputy managing editor – news and analysis, Brittney Rigby*, shares her experience, and those of a range of industry professionals, to unpick why our industry operates this way.
Alex Watts doesn’t drink, but he used to. In 2017, the 30-year-old had a year off alcohol, before going back to it the next year. “I’ve learnt all these great lessons, I understand my limits, I’m going to be so capable of moderation,” DDB’s head of social told himself. Within two months, he was drinking as much as ever. Or, as he puts it, he was drinking “like everyone else drinks” in advertising. But lots of people rely on that excuse. “‘I’m drinking as much as my MD is’, or ‘I’m drinking as much as my mate is’ and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
Adland networks and negotiates, celebrates and commiserates over alcohol. But it takes a toll. Almost half of the industry is drinking at risky levels, last year’s Mentally Health survey revealed, despite the broader population’s consumption declining over time. 30% are drinking at that lowest level of ‘risky’, 8% are drinking at a harmful level, and 6% are dependent.
These figures don’t exist in a vacuum; adland’s mental health record is an indictment: 56% of the industry display symptoms of depression, and 52% of anxiety. One fifth of our peers are severely or extremely severely stressed. And only 6% think their company is addressing mental health highly effectively.
