By Shea Brennan, Insight
When thinking about the behaviours of Gen Z, a few tropes likely come to mind. They spend a lot of time on social media. They don’t like making phone calls. And they’re drinking a lot less than previous generations.
Except at least one of those tropes might not be true, after all. For years, reports have suggested that Gen Z consume a lot less alcohol than their older peers did at the same stage of life. Common causes cited include an aversion to social settings, a greater focus on personal health, or coming of age during a global pandemic, when traditional options for socialising were shuttered.
So common was this storyline that it became accepted lore, with particular attention paid to future ramifications for pubs and nightclubs, which are already struggling under growing cost pressures. The BBC pondered why Gen Z were coming of age ‘sober conscious’, while the Independent described their apparent behaviour as a ‘cultural reset’.
Yet, new research suggests that Gen Z now drink just as much as prior generations as they get older. A University College London longitudinal study found 68% of 22-year-olds have engaged in binge drinking in the last year, while 29% report doing so at least monthly. A similar pattern has emerged in the US, where Gen Z (the oldest now reaching their late 20s) report drinking at a comparable rate now to other age cohorts.
A sobering thought
That a behavioural change once framed as a long-term shift has seemingly receded should give marketers pause for thought. Alongside statistics highlighting that Gen Z are generally more risk averse, this was framed as evidence of a generation unlike those that came before them.
At the same time, mental health, anxiety and vulnerability had become greater priorities for young people, with alcohol framed as an unwanted distraction. John Holmes, professor of alcohol policy at the University of Sheffield, described these factors as part of ‘a natural progression for Gen Z’ and forecasted that this would become the norm for future generations, with the no-boozing trend growing as it became normalised.
This forecast seemed entirely plausible at the time, because available data pointed to declining alcohol consumption. Equally, many of the factors cited as contributors to this trend, including the cost-of-living crisis, showed no signs of abating. But clearly, we weren’t observing a long-term descent into teetotalism, but a temporary change in behaviour.
Sorting cultural shifts from flash-in-the-pan fads
Lashantay Richards, Strategy Director, suggests that to understand culture, brands need not scrutinise the habits, values and everyday behaviour of their audience’s lives. Rather, brands can track the signals and shifts that shape their attitudes and ultimately impact their purchase behaviour.
But to distinguish a trend from a fad, we must pay attention to how fast the data is moving. Fads often gain rapid traction before disappearing, whereas true cultural shifts are quieter and more gradual. Attention slowly accumulates and behaviours are subtly adopted. At the7stars, we describe these as cultural codes: a series of signals that evolve and expand over time, rewarding longevity over flash-in-the-pan thinking.
When statistics show a rapid shift in behaviour, brands should resist jumping on the fast-moving train and focus on gradual cultural changes. Often, that’s the data worth listening to stay on top of culture in the long term.
