Liquorland’s Party Planning tool has landed in hot water for allegedly violating the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act by promoting an irresponsible consumption of booze. The calculator helps customers figure out how much beer, spirits and wine they need for a function, based on number of attendees, duration and typology of drinkers—light tipplers, typical drinkers, big night-outers or non-drinkers.
According to Alcohol Healthwatch, however, the tool ‘flies in the face of all advice we have around risky and sensible drinking guidelines’. Critics pointed out that the calculator encourages people 'to cater for and supply alcohol for quite heavy drinking', without taking into account the attendees’ age, gender or weight.
Liquorland rejected the accusations, saying that the tool estimates how much alcohol should be purchased, not consumed, erring on the generous side to help organisers avoid running out of alcohol. In the same spirit (no pun intended) was marketing expert Brandon Wilcox of Evolve Marketing, according to whom the calculator is merely providing event hosts with information to make their purchase decisions, offering a useful and realistic party planning scenario.
