Dry January is a public health campaign urging people to abstain from alcohol for the month of January, particularly practised in Europe. The campaign, as a formal entity, appears to be relatively recent, being described as having "sprung up in recent years" even in 2014. However, the Finnish government had launched a campaign called "Sober January" in 1942 as part of its war effort. The term "Dry January" came into more common usage in the 2000's when Nicole Brodeur of The Seattle Times wrote a column on her first Dry January motivated by a friend who had done the same for several years before. The term "Dry January" was registered as a trademark by the charity Alcohol Concern in mid-2014; the first ever Dry January campaign by Alcohol Concern occurred in January 2013. In the leadup to th