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The Catholic Sobriety Podcast
Welcome to The Catholic Sobriety Podcast with your host Christie Walker!
This podcast is dedicated to empowering Catholics to live lives of freedom by providing tips and tools to help them be successful as they reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption. Christie Walker, a compassionate Catholic life and sobriety coach, is here to support you on your journey toward a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Are you questioning whether alcohol has taken control of your life? Do you worry about the impact it may have on your well-being? Many people find themselves in this situation, fearing the loss of pleasure and stress relief associated with alcohol. They assume that giving it up will only bring deprivation and misery. But Christie offers a different and much more positive perspective.
With Christie's expertise, you'll discover the joy and peace that come from embracing a healthier lifestyle rooted in the Catholic faith and tradition.
Ready to get curious? Start listening!
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The Catholic Sobriety Podcast
Ep 133: What Alcohol Companies Don't Want You to Know About Their Marketing
Ever wondered why wine is suddenly pink, skinny, and organic—or why every momfluencer has a glass in hand with hashtags like #WineOClock or #MommysLittleHelper? The answer lies in a carefully orchestrated shift in alcohol marketing that has fundamentally changed women's relationship with drinking.
The billion-dollar alcohol industry recognized a golden opportunity when their traditional male market began declining in the early 2000s. Their solution? Target stressed, exhausted women—especially moms—with a completely reimagined marketing approach. What followed was nothing short of an identity assault, where alcohol wasn't just a beverage but positioned as self-care, freedom, and the well-deserved reward for every overwhelmed woman.
This episode pulls back the curtain on these strategic tactics and their devastating impact. But this isn't a message of despair—it's an invitation to reclaim your power.
I share practical steps to begin questioning your relationship with alcohol, reframing your thoughts around drinking less, and finding the spiritual clarity that may have been muted by that evening glass of wine. Because you were never meant to be a statistic in someone else's marketing campaign—you were created for authentic joy, presence, and peace.
Download my free guide "50 Creative Ways to Say No to a Drink" to start your journey to freedom today: https://the-catholic-sobriety-coach.myflodesk.com/50-ways-to-decline-a-drink
Just a few resources to check out:
Alcohol & Spirits Influencer Marketing | Open Influence (this details why influencer marketing is a MUST for alcohol and Spirits Brands)
https://openinfluence.com/alcohol-spirits-influencer-marketing/
Alcohol and breast Cancer | NY Post https://nypost.com/2025/06/06/health/14-out-of-100-women-who-do-this-every-week-will-get-breast-cancer/
Binge Drinking in Midlife is Accelerating | NewsWise
https://www.newswise.com/articles/women-are-drinking-more-during-midlife-and-older-ages-binge-drinking-during-midlife-is-accelerating
Number of alcohol-related Deaths Among Women Skyrockets in US as "wine culture" is blamed for dramatic Increase | The Sun
https://www.the-sun.com/health/13007757/alcohol-related-deaths-united-states-health-warning-study
One Drink a Day Associated with Brain Shrinkage | Alzheimer's Disease Research Center: https://www.adrc.wisc.edu/dementia-matters/alcohol-and-brain-one-drink-day-associated-brain-shrinkage
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
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Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, the go-to resource for women seeking to have a deeper understanding of the role alcohol plays in their lives, women who are looking to drink less or not at all for any reason. I am your host, christi Walker. I'm a wife, mom and a joy-filled Catholic, and I am the Catholic Sobriety Coach, and I am so glad you're here, hello friend, and welcome back. Today we are going to take a peek under the curtain of the billion-dollar alcohol industry and the carefully crafted lives it feeds to women, from mommy wine culture to influencer partnerships and pink-washed marketing. You'll discover how alcohol companies have strategically targeted women, especially moms, to sell a false version of self-care, freedom and empowerment. You'll also hear about the unique health risks alcohol poses to women, especially in midlife, why it hits us harder and how to begin reclaiming your peace and freedom, spiritually and physically. Now this episode is called what alcohol companies don't want you to know about their marketing, and this isn't just a theory, it's personal, it's spiritual and it's backed by decades of research and real life pain. So let's get into it.
Speaker 1:The first thing that we're going to talk about is the history of alcohol marketing to women. Now, for decades, alcohol was marketed to men Masculine beer commercials, bar culture, locker room vibes you get my drift. Now, that doesn't mean women weren't drinking alcohol. It just means that it wasn't really being marketed to them the way it is now. But in the early 2000s, as their male market started to decline, they quickly realized that they needed to make a shift, and that's when big alcohol saw a massive opportunity Women opportunity. Women Specifically stressed out exhausted, high-performing women, especially moms, and so began the feminization of alcohol. And suddenly wine became pink, sparkling, skinny, organic and sold with phrases like because you deserve it, or mommy's little helper, or it's wine o'clock somewhere, or, my least favorite, my kids are the reason I drink. It was no longer just about the drink. This was all about identity, an attack on women's identity. They were selling women a new identity, one that promised connection, escape and permission to just let go and numb out. Now recent research tells us that alcohol consumption, and particularly binge drinking, among women aged 45 and up has actually increased by 40% in the last decade. That is a direct correlation to the way that alcohol has been marketed in recent years.
Speaker 1:Now I know that statistic is hard to hear, but it's important. We look at it with compassionate eyes. Women, we were targeted you were targeted by big alcohol and so many of us fell into this trap. Because this season of life can be filled is filled with unique pressures balancing work, caring for children and or aging parents, and sometimes while facing loneliness as family dynamics shift. Enter momfluencers. These weren't celebrities in ads. These were actual moms on Instagram and TikTok celebrities and ads. These were actual moms on Instagram and TikTok Women just like you and me, posting relatable content with a wine glass in hand and a wink in her eye, saying cheers to surviving bedtime. Or I love Jesus, but I drink a little. Or coffee until wine, or coffee until wine.
Speaker 1:It was funny, it was viral and it was everywhere, but behind the humor was something strategic these women became unofficial sales reps for the alcohol industry, and what they were really promoting? Not just wine, but the idea that alcohol was the solution to motherhood's overwhelm. Because, ladies, the industry was saying you need to self-medicate and self-care with alcohol and thankfully, here's the truth that so many women are waking up to including you because you're listening to this podcast and that is it's not self-care. Alcohol is not self-care if it steals your peace. Now here's another fact Since 2020, alcohol use disorder in women has skyrocketed by 33%. Alcohol use disorder in women has skyrocketed by 33% and during the pandemic, women were twice as likely to turn to alcohol as men, Slowly becoming intertwined in the grips of alcohol dependence. Now here's where it gets personal, especially if you are a woman of faith.
Speaker 1:I've talked to so many Catholic women who love the Lord, who serve their families, their churches, their communities, but who are secretly feeling stuck in a cycle with alcohol. They don't really know who to talk to or where to turn. They also seem to have things pretty much all together in other aspects. Even if there may be some troubles here and there. They can kind of move past that because they're not really looking at it. They are thinking that alcohol is what's holding them all together. They're pouring a glass of wine at the end of the day not to celebrate, to escape. But they're also wondering why they feel spiritually numb or disconnected. The reason is this Alcohol is a spiritual thief. It doesn't just blur your thoughts, it dulls your discernment, it quiets that still small voice and it numbs the discomfort. But at the same time it's also numbing the clarity, the joy, the conviction that God wants to give you. It deals your present, it keeps you from seeing things that the Lord wants you to see. It keeps you from hearing things that you need to hear. It keeps you comfortably numb until it doesn't. And as long as we are turning to alcohol instead of the Holy Spirit, we are going to keep missing the healing that God is trying to offer. Now let's talk about the part the industry really doesn't want you to know.
Speaker 1:Alcohol is especially damaging to women's health, and even more so in midlife, though in midlife, we metabolize alcohol differently than men. We absorb more of it and faster, and as estrogen levels shift during perimenopause and menopause, the effects of alcohol hit us harder. Now here's what science says Even one drink a day increases your breast cancer risk. Women are much more likely to develop liver disease, and at lower amounts than men, just because our bodies are different and alcohol attacks our organs quicker, because we just don't have the same amount of fat and muscle that men have for alcohol to get through. Alcohol disrupts sleep, worsens anxiety and accelerates cognitive decline. It also shrinks your brain. Even one glass a day can shrink your brain, and don't worry, I'm going to be leaving some links to resources that you can go even deeper with this. Alcohol also throws your hormones into chaos, which is the last thing we need as midlife women, and it raises the risk for depression and even early onset of dementia.
Speaker 1:I've talked about all these things before in previous podcast episode, but it bears repeating. And let me tell you something else. You know how cigarettes have all of those warnings and things printed on them. None of that will be found on a bottle. Hopefully that's changing. Actually, the Surgeon General recently came out with a statement that said no amount of alcohol is safe to consume. So I mean, there's that, and maybe one day we will see warnings on alcohol labels, but I haven't seen any recently, although I don't really buy alcohol, so I don't know if it's on there Now.
Speaker 1:The alcohol industry doesn't want you to know this stuff, because they're not trying to sell you health, they're trying to sell you escape. They're selling you identity. They're selling you a short-term fix that guarantees long-term pain, the more you drink and the more often, and they're doing it with beautiful, glitter, pink cans and hashtags. So what do you do with all of this? I just firehosed you with a lot of information. First, let me tell you you don't need to panic and you don't need to feel shame, but what you do need is to wake up and take back your power.
Speaker 1:Here's a few things that you can do today. First of all, start noticing the messaging. Get curious about how alcohol is being sold to you and what it is promising. Look at how other people talk about it, how there seems to be like connection and solidarity around drinking. Tell the truth, gently Ask yourself is drinking actually helping me or is it just numbing, something that I'm afraid to feel? Make yourself a pros and cons list.
Speaker 1:If you want, on one side, just write. Take a piece of paper. You want On one side, just write. Take a piece of paper, fold it in half. On one side, write all the things that alcohol gives you and all the things that alcohol takes away.
Speaker 1:Reframe your thoughts around drinking less or not at all. It's not about deprivation, it's liberation. Your no gives way to a yes. Remind yourself, you're not losing fun. You're actually reclaiming your health and your clarity. And then the other thing you can do is just let God speak into your discomfort. He isn't the Lord, does not shame you, he doesn't condemn you. Instead, he invites you, he heals you and he wants to set you free. Ladies, you were never meant to be a silent statistic in someone else's marketing campaign. You are a beloved daughter of God to live a fulfilled life, fully alive and fully awake, fully present, aligned and at peace.
Speaker 1:So if this episode stirred something in you, I just want to invite you to subscribe to this podcast, share it with a friend or sister in Christ and, while you're at it, you can grab my free guide 50 Creative Ways to Say no to a Drink. You are not alone, you are not stuck and you are not beyond hope. There is so much life on the other side of that glass. I pray that this information and awareness is going to help you stay rooted, stay free, keep saying yes to the real you and step into the life that the Lord desires for you and you desire for yourself, until next time.
Speaker 1:Well, that does it for this episode of the Catholic Sobriety Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I would invite you to share it with a friend who might also get value from it as well. And make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing. I am the Catholic Sobriety Coach, and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer. Visit my website, the thecatholicsobrietycoachcom. Follow me on Instagram at the Catholic Sobriety Coach. I look forward to speaking to you next time and remember I am here for you. I am praying for you. You are not alone.
