‘Hello Sunday Morning’ is challenging people to give up alcohol for three months in an attempt to combat the Kiwi binge drinking culture.
The brainchild of Brisbane-based Chris Raine, 24, the movement was launched in New Zealand last week, beginning with a presentation at Canterbury University.
The movement is not an anti-drinking campaign, but an opportunity to change society’s attitudes towards drinking, Raine said.
Salient spoke to several Victoria University students who would not accept the challenge to give up alcohol for three months.
“It’s nice to go down to the pub and have a few beers with mates,” one student said, adding that “the message will fall on deaf ears”.
Raine, who considers himself to have once been a heavy drinker, said, “If I’m hungover every weekend, then I’m missing out on something much more important, and that’s living the dream.”
He believes that participating in ‘Hello Sunday Morning’ is an “opportunity for people to really commit through an online process.”
Two years after its initial release, Raine’s movement has almost 2000 followers on Facebook. Once people have signed up to the website and vow not to drink for three months, they can make blog entries about their experience.
The movement comes after a weekend of disorder and assault in Christchurch two weeks ago, with more than 1000 intoxicated students from the University of Canterbury’s Engineering Society wreaking havoc in Riccarton.