As recession hit the financial world hard in the early 1990s, people around the globe began to use their income more wisely by spending money on items deemed essential and by avoiding luxury expenses such as holidays, new cars and designer label clothing. As time went by with no prospect of economic upturn, even sales of alcoholic beverages - a product which, in times of hardship past, had tended to remain relatively unaffected - noticeably dropped creating severe worries amongst producers and company shareholders concerning profits.