Yes, binge drinking at festivals is definitely an issue. But the organisers of Australia’s upcoming Full Moon Party have come up with a bizarre measure they think will curb the problem.
Asiafest’s Full Moon Party replicates the immensely popular Full Moon Parties in Thailand, and the idea is to attract Adelaide punters with great music, colourful neon paint, and cheap buckets alcohol that the festival is known for. But authorities are wary of the problems of festival attendees binge-drinking at the festival, and are taking steps to stop it.
When South Australia Police and the State Governmentβs Consumer and Business Services aired concerns the buckets would aid in binge drinking, organisers decided to not sell buckets of alcohol at the festival. This is with the expectation that the lack of buckets would reduce alcohol consumption. And it gets weirder.
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βWe agreed that the perception of serving alcoholic beverages in buckets could encourage irresponsible consumption of alcohol,β Asiafest organiser Greg Evangelou told Rip It Up. He also says,βJointly, we decided that we would not serve beverages in buckets nor would we make them available in any bars. However there were no restrictions on our license that stated we werenβt to sell buckets in our merchandise shop.β
So this isΒ a loophole to the rule. Organisers can sell buckets, but with a 2cm hole drilled into the bottom of each one, but then the bucket would not be able to hold any alcohol. Which would meanΒ people have no real reason to buy them. Evangelou also said,”Although we are extremely disappointed with the outcome, we donβt believe it will affect the atmosphere of the Full Moon Party in any way.“