HEINEKEN USA Drives Responsibility Home
How many times have you heard the phrase “don’t drink and drive”? It’s a good phrase. But is it good enough? At HEINEKEN USA, it’s something we’ve been thinking a lot about. Advocating responsible consumption is a huge part of our Brewing a Better World strategy and a key priority within our global business strategy. Excessive consumption can never be part of a sustainable future for our company or our industry. And with today marking our third annual Enjoy Responsibly Day, we’d like to talk about our commitment to eliminate drunk driving.
Heineken®, our flagship brand, recently became a global partner of Formula 1®. Central to the partnership is compelling responsibility message; “If you drive, never drink.” The Formula 1 global platform will provide Heineken with even greater opportunities, globally and locally, to drive positive change.
HEINEKEN USA held a workshop last month for stakeholders from academia, government, industry and more to focus on how the power of language, behavior, and city planning can help eliminate drunk driving. We began by dissecting the well-known “don’t drink and drive” phrase. Have you ever stopped to think about why there is an ‘and’ tying these two words together? This one little conjunction by definition means along or together with, and by placing this word in between the words ‘drink’ and ‘drive,’ it is innately implied that the two words go together. We removed the word ‘and’ and replaced it with the word ‘or.’ Drink OR Drive. Now we are asking consumers to make a choice. If you drive, never drink. This OR that. Not this AND that. By asking this question, we believe we have the power to change an age-old conversation, which can lead to a change in consumer behavior.
The workshop also aimed to start conversations about other pieces of the drunk driving puzzle, such as decision-making and city planning. For example, more than four million U.S. adults admit they drink and drive at least sometimes (source), even though they’re aware of the consequences. Studying this further and understanding why these decisions are made will help us influence and alter this behavior in the future. Discussions also focused on the disconnect within cities between transportation planning goals and providing alternatives to drunk driving (Atlantic article). Cities and the private sector can and should play bigger roles in eliminating drunk driving.
This constructive workshop went from questions to conversations where we identified actionable ideas – from digital apps that ask consumers to declare their intention to drink or drive when RSVPing to an event to increased access to alternate forms of public transportation for consumers. As a global beer brand, HEINEKEN has an opportunity to create change by starting a ‘responsibility movement.’ Our hope is that in the near future, you won’t even have to ask someone if they are going to drink OR drive. It will just be common knowledge that you don’t do both.
We’d love to hear from you! Have an idea on how we change consumer behavior by leveraging Drink OR Drive? Share your ideas with us by emailing them to responsibly@heinekenusa.com!
