By Alexandra Radius
In France, a new debate is raging among local
authorities on whether to allow “les apéros Facebook”. The concept is simple:
flash mobs for drinking.
These events are becoming more and more successful,
with real competition brewing between cities. The Paris ‘apéritif’, for
example, was given “the record for the biggest apéritif in France" and now
the growing popularity of the phenomenon has the authorities worried. Last
month the death of a young person unleashed a lot of hostility against these
gatherings. The Minister of the Interior, Brice Hortefeux decided that to
authorise these giant “apéritifs” a number of conditions (size and nature of
the event, exact location etc) would have to be met. Easy in theory, but
difficult to implement.
I’m wondering why there is so much fear - as the
concept is not new. Large numbers of people have always gathered together in
France to eat, drink and be merry on New Year’s, Bastille Day, and for “La Fête
de la Musique” and these events have
never been cancelled, even when there have been incidents. Although the
Internet changes the way people come together, and pushes up the number of
participants - the problem is not Facebook, but the increasingly excessive
alcohol consumption among young people. The solution is perhaps to concentrate
on advertising against binge drinking, rather than pointing the finger at
Facebook and other social networking sites. But then burying our heads in the
sand is a French speciality.
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