The campaign targeted young people aged 16 to 29, challenging the perception that many young people are drinking heavily on a regular basis.

The campaign was informed by a VicHealth study showing that young Victorians are more likely to feel positively about drunkenness than those 30 years or over and are also more likely to feel pressure to drink around other drinkers. This research also showed that 61% of young people don’t go out intending to get drunk.

So while the majority of young people aren’t actually drinking to get drunk, they often feel pressure from others to drink more than they intended. The No Excuse Needed campaign aims to motivate young people to think about why they make up excuses, but also question if and why they put pressure on others to drink. We’re hoping by taking this approach, we can begin to reduce the importance alcohol plays in young Victorians’ lives.

The campaign ran from September to December 2014, and the supporting website is now archived to the National Library of Australia’s Pandora repository.

VicHealth delivered this campaign in partnership with the State Government. 

No Excuse Needed was a campaign driven by VicHealth's Alcohol Cultural Change project.