I recently opened my HelloFresh delivery box and found a can of Thatchers cider sitting inside.
Uninvited. Unannounced. No age verification. No consent. Just alcohol arriving at the doorstep of an alcohol-free home.
For some people, a can of cider is insignificant.
For others, it is not.
I am in recovery. Alcohol nearly cost me my life. Everything I have today was built in sobriety. My education, career, relationships, confidence. I went back to university, earned a degree I never thought I deserved, and have recently been accepted to study at the University of Cambridge. I am a late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD woman, a mum, and someone who knows how much hard work recovery takes.
"What shocked me most was not that alcohol had arrived, but how normal an occurrence that actually is."
For many in recovery, an unexpected alcohol delivery can be distressing, triggering, and potentially undermine years of hard-won progress. What shocked me most was not that alcohol had arrived, but how normal an occurrence that actually is.
I contacted HelloFresh and was cheerfully told not to worry. It was a "free gift", and I could simply throw it away.
I asked how alcohol could be sent to a customer's home without their explicit consent and was told that customers were automatically opted into promotional sampling campaigns and age verification was not required.
No one checked whether alcohol should be entering my home. It was simply sent.
"Hundreds of people began sharing their own experiences."
When I shared my experience publicly, something unexpected happened. Hundreds of people began sharing their own experiences. To my surprise, it wasn’t just people in recovery. It was parents who had never considered alcohol arriving unexpectedly at home, those working in safeguarding or foster care, people from faith communities, and others who simply choose not to drink all shared stories.
Some had received the same cider promotion. Others had received alcohol in workplace gift baskets, hotel rooms, welcome packs, and celebration hampers.
One concern came up repeatedly: alcohol should not be arriving unexpectedly at people's homes. But the common theme was not outrage. It was shock, feeling overlooked, disrespected and not included.
And what became clear very quickly was that this was not about one company or one delivery. It was about a culture where alcohol is often treated as the default.
The can of cider I received was covered in images of apples and could reasonably be mistaken for a soft drink. It raised an obvious question: if alcohol is being delivered as a promotional freebie, what safeguards are in place?
If you buy alcohol in a shop, you may be asked for proof of age. Yet it appears that if alcohol arrives as part of a promotional campaign hidden inside another delivery, those safeguards disappear entirely.
The question is simple: why does alcohol stop being alcohol when it is packaged as a promotion?
No company knows who is on the other side of that delivery. They do not know if someone is in recovery, whether alcohol is welcome in that household, if children live there, nor whether the recipient has religious, cultural, medical or personal reasons for avoiding alcohol.
Yet alcohol can still arrive without explicit consent – left for anyone to access.
This is very concerning. And campaigning for change isn’t anti-drinking.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this conversation has been how quickly some people assumed that raising concerns about unsolicited alcohol meant being anti-alcohol or somehow stopping ‘fun’.
It doesn't. It means supporting choice. People who drink deserve respect, and people who don’t deserve the same respect.
"The issue is consent."
The issue is not alcohol itself. The issue is consent.
Nobody should have alcohol entering their home unless they have actively opted in. That seems like a remarkably uncontroversial position. Yet the reaction to this campaign revealed something important: alcohol is so deeply normalised that simply asking for consent was treated by some as a provocation. In daring to go against common norms, I received extreme negativity from a minority of people, saying things such as: “she’s stopping people’s fun,” “no wonder she is a single mother,” and even “women shouldn’t vote.”
Yet I continue with my campaign as I have lost friends to the harm caused by alcohol and there has to be change. And, overall, support has been overwhelmingly positive – messages such as: "this will save lives - keep going," "thank you for being the voice that many others need," and "we need these conversations." It is clear from this that so many of us recognise that we need change.
NOT EVERYONE DRINKS is calling for four simple changes:
1. Opt-in, not opt-out
Alcohol promotions should only be sent to people who have actively chosen to receive them.
2. Inclusion audits on marketing campaigns
Before alcohol-related promotions are launched, organisations should consider who may be excluded, harmed, or placed at risk.
3. Better workplace and organisational practices
No employee, customer, resident, guest, or service user should feel pressured to justify their decision not to drink.
4. Recognition that non-drinkers are a significant audience
Around one in four UK adults do not drink alcohol. This includes those in recovery. This is not a niche group. It is a substantial part of society.
I strongly support Alcohol Change UK's End the Delivery Trap campaign, which seeks to update laws and controls around rapid deliveries in the UK.
That campaign and NOT EVERYONE DRINKS focus on different aspects of the issue, but are asking similar questions.
- What responsibilities do companies have?
- What safeguards and protections should exist?
- How do we protect people from avoidable harm?
Whether alcohol arrives through a rapid delivery app, promotional campaign, meal kit, or corporate gift, the principle remains the same.
Companies have a responsibility to consider the impact of what they send into people's homes.
When I found that can of cider, I assumed I would send a complaint and move on. Instead, something remarkable happened in less than a month.
- My campaign reached tens of thousands of people.
- HelloFresh paused its nationwide alcohol sampling campaigns while investigating concerns raised.
- The BBC covered the story and Turning Point supported it.
- My campaign was circulated to officers, sponsors, and members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drugs, Alcohol and Justice.
- My campaign is being brought up at the next Home Office meeting by The Alcohol Health Alliance and Institute of Alcohol Studies.
- More media coverage, podcasts, and conversations are ongoing.
The most important part has never been the headlines.
It has been those reaching out thanking me for speaking up, sharing similar experiences and highlighting that it’s not an isolated case. Those who are encouraging me to keep pushing for change.
What’s happened since that day suggests people have been waiting for this conversation.
Not everyone wants alcohol in their home.
Not everyone feels able to speak up when it happens.
If this resonates with you, I encourage you to share your experience. If you work in recovery, health, safeguarding, inclusion, wellbeing, housing, education, or public services, your voice and opinions matter too.
If you represent an organisation, ask whether your policies, marketing, and events genuinely consider people who do not drink alcohol.
Because not everyone drinks.
Find out more about the NOT EVERYONE DRINKS campaign. There a section to leave comments of support and also a chance to sign the petition.
Samantha Morgan is an impact and inclusion consultant, speaker and founder of NOT EVERYONE DRINKS. She works with organisations on inclusion, neurodiversity, accessibility, recovery awareness and reducing unintended barriers to participation.
