The message on responsible drinking

A man out for a night drinks too much and ends up ruining it by almost punching someone. A woman at a party is too drunk to stand. These scenes may sound familiar. They are from adverts you may well have seen on TV. Their aim is to get the message out to consumers that drinking too much really is not fun and can spoil a night out.

This advertising campaign is run by drinks giant Diageo, owner of famous brands such as Smirnoff, Baileys and Guinness. But despite their best efforts, the constant knee-jerk reactions from the press and the government imply that the industry, from drinks companies to publicans, is taking money from their customers and failing to give anything back.

Alcohol Concern chief executive Srabani Sen recently said the drinks industry "colludes in and perpetrates" an ignorance about the importance of alcohol misuse in the UK. It's the sort of statement that can put the case of the trade back years, and fails to appreciate the positive contribution it is making to promoting responsible drinking.

The advertising campaign mentioned above is one such example. Kate Blakeley, head of social responsibility at Diageo, believes that the company has an obligation to promote responsible drinking while educating consumers about alcohol use. These adverts are part of this initiative, which she heads up.

"It's based on the insight that you don't want to be the person who spoils a good night out for your mates," she says.

"We had trialled an advert in 2003 that was fronted by Smirnoff and we knew through all our brand work that advertising was a good medium to connect to consumers.

"The hardest thing was trying to crack the message and the tone for it. But we feel advertising has the profile and the reach and hopefully over time could have a cumulative effect so that people start to say things like 'I'll think differently about my drinking on a night out' or 'it's making me think about how much I drink'," she adds.

She believes it is important the industry is allowed to regulate itself despite the increasing restrictions on promotions and advertising imposed by the government.

"It's in our interest that we continue to advertise, that we continue to run promotions and the government feels that we are self-regulating in an effective way so they don't feel the need to introduce further measures," she argues.

"Advertising obviously plays a part in that and if we can demonstrate that young people are feeling and thinking differently as a result of seeing the ads then that is great."

These adverts are particularly targeting the younger age market, but Diageo will consider targeting other age groups and using other mediums such as radio if the results prove successful.

However, Kate argues, getting the responsible drinking message across is not just the job of Diageo but is something the whole industry needs to tackle.

"One of our challenges is to find the right way to also encourage the industry to promote responsible drinking and to take on new and innovative initiatives and I think that is the role that Diageo has to play.

"The government has quite clearly said it is coming back in 2007 to review its alcohol harm reduction strategy and it's not only going to look at Diageo, it's going to look at the industry as a whole and see what kind of progress has been made."

The major problem for the industry, she believes, is the lack of direction coming from the government, which has expectations of the industry but is not effectively communicating this.

Despite this she feels the industry is moving forward, especially with the introduction of the Challenge 21 scheme and the Drinkaware trust, which will see suppliers and retailers working closer together.

However, she does admit this culture of working together could be improved: "There is still fragmentation and it's something the industry does continue to struggle with," she says.

Despite all the furore about people drinking too much Kate believes it is important not to forget that alcohol is fun. "I think it's fair to recognise that alcohol is there to be enjoyed and has been for hundreds of years. We don't want to be apologetic because alcohol can and should be enjoyed moderately," she says.

What can Publicans do?​

Publicans have a huge contribution to make towards promoting responsible drinking and educating their customers, according to Kate.

"Publicans are like producers in that there's a role they can play in terms of giving advice and guidance to consumers. I think the role for the industry should be to provide information and guidance that people can then take and choose to use to make their decisions around."

This include the chalkboards in the bar and hints and tips in washrooms as well as labels on drinks. "As long as it is delivered in the right way so it is not seen to be too intrusive and the tone is right so it feels like you are just providing helpful, useful information," she adds. "Pubs really do have a role to play."

Diageo schemes​

NUS Schemes​The company ran a couple of trial schemes in outlets with the National Union of Students. The aim was to put messages into bars with simple information such as "one drink is not one unit". This included posters in washrooms, dripmats and post-it notes on walls.

The scheme has been so successful that it is to be extended to 55 universities across the country. The feedback was that students were aware of the message and dripmats were seen as the most effective way of communicating.

Education​Diageo also works with a theatre group to promote alcohol awareness to under-18s. The Cragrats group goes to schools across the country highlighting the danger of alcohol misuse. It is now set to perform in 40,000 secondary schools across the country.

The company is also working with charity Mentor UK on innovative alcohol programmes across the country.

Mentor UK has launched an awards scheme with the backing of Diageo to promote excellence in alcohol misuse prevention and alcohol education for primary school age children.