A new Danish campaign is encouraging young people to question the automatic role alcohol can play in parties and social life. Launched by Fuld af Liv, an initiative from the Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse) and TrygFonden, the campaign introduces the idea of the “alko-refleksen”, or “alcohol reflex”, describing drinking that happens almost automatically, without people stopping to consider whether they actually want another drink. Aimed particularly at 18 to 24-year-olds, the humorous campaign encourages young people to recognise this habit in themselves and their friends and create more space for social experiences where alcohol is not simply on autopilot.

The campaign comes alongside new findings showing how strongly alcohol remains embedded in young people’s social environment. According to the new report Unges alkoholvaner i Danmark 2025, 77% of Danish 15 to 25-year-olds encounter alcohol-related content on social media, including drink recipes, drinking games, alcohol marketing and party content shared by friends and influencers. The nationally representative survey of 1,018 young people also found that more than half had experienced a friend trying to persuade them to drink more than they wanted.

At the same time, the research suggests that many young Danes would prefer a different alcohol culture. 59% believe alcohol consumption among Danish young people is too high, while almost nine in ten want a culture in which saying “no thanks” to alcohol is accepted. Alcohol pressures are also visible in education, with 23% of young people attending upper secondary education and 28% of those in higher education saying alcohol plays too large a role in their school or study environment. The findings point to a gap between the drinking culture young people encounter and the more inclusive social culture many say they actually want.

Fuld af Liv’s new campaign attempts to address that gap by focusing not simply on individual drinking decisions, but on the habits and expectations surrounding alcohol. By asking young people to notice and interrupt the “alcohol reflex”, the campaign aims to make drinking less automatic and make choosing less alcohol, or no alcohol, a more normal part of social life. Fuld af Liv works more broadly to delay alcohol initiation, reduce alcohol consumption and promote a healthier alcohol culture among young people in Denmark, and the new campaign adds a practical social message: sometimes changing drinking culture starts with questioning what everyone has become accustomed to doing without thinking.

Find more from Fuld af Liv (Denmark, August 2026)