From Underage to Uninspired - Younger Audiences are Waiting on Booze

In this episode of The Gist podcast, Michael Kiser and Kate Bernot explore America’s massively successful campaign against underage drinking, and what it means for broader trends in alcohol consumption. 

Study after study and survey after survey indicate that teenagers today are drinking at vastly lower rates than prior generations. This is unequivocally a good thing. What’s more complicated, however, is what this means for newly legal drinkers—those in their early to mid-20s. 

There’s evidence to suggest that today’s young people are simply taking longer to mature, and not just when it comes to alcohol. They’re driving less, having less sex, staying home longer, and waiting to get jobs. In this conversation, Michael and Kate consider how alcohol brands need to shift their assumptions about young people, and offer ways to reclaim the maturation ritual that turning 21 once marked.