When you drive, never drink. As a responsible brewer, this is Heineken Malaysia Bhd’s message to its consumers. In Malaysia, driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05% or 50mg per 100ml of blood is an offence under Section 45A of the Road Transport Act.

“Safe driving requires concentration, good judgment and the ability to react quickly. Consuming any amount of alcohol negatively impacts your driving ability and puts your life and others on the road at risk,” warns Renuka Indrarajah, corporate affairs and legal director of Heineken Malaysia.

Brew a Better World, Heineken’s global sustainability strategy has had a profound influence on the company. The strategy has driven the company to deliver on its commitment as a responsible and progressive brewer, working towards protecting the planet, growing the planet and supporting local communities. This is all done with a focus on delivering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This is exemplified by Heineken N.V., the parent organisation of Heineken Malaysia and one of the signatories of the Beer, Wine and Spirits Producers’ Commitments to Reduce Harmful Drinking since it was launched in 2012.

The commitments encompass five ambitions: reducing underage drinking; strengthening and expanding marketing codes of practice; providing consumer information and responsible product innovation; reducing drinking and driving; and enlisting the support of retailers to reduce harmful drinking.

In line with the strategy, Heineken has taken the lead in advocating for responsible consumption. This is supported by a stringent and comprehensive responsible marketing code.

“While promoting the enjoyment of our beers and ciders, we take the lead in advocating responsible consumption. Our Responsible Consumption ambition focuses on empowering consumers by providing choice, increasing transparency and having zero tolerance for the harmful use of alcohol,” says Renuka.

“Another commitment we have is to always provide a choice to consumers. This means making sure there is a zero-alcohol option available. In Malaysia, we launched our de-alcoholised beer — Heineken 0.0 — in 2019, which is a great option for consumers who want to enjoy the same great taste of Heineken but without the effects of alcohol.”

Fostering responsibility on the road

Heineken dedicates 10% of the brand’s media spend annually to promote responsible consumption. This includes the When You Drive, Never Drink (WYDND) campaign, which serves to help change attitudes and behaviours and reduce drink driving.

In April this year, consumers were encouraged to “be the hero who drives sober” through the campaign, encouraging them to take the leap to pledge to never drink when they drive. In total, 3,000 pledges were received.

Furthermore, consumers were also encouraged to share their pledges on social media to amplify the WYDND message to friends and family. Consumers can visit the WYDND pledge website and fill in their details to affirm their commitment to never drink when they drive.

“To encourage customers to do so, we leveraged digital media platforms, calling for consumers in Malaysia to commit to never drink and drive, and providing all those who pledged with Grab ride vouchers,” says Renuka.

“Through this campaign, we aimed to change the perception of responsible consumption by celebrating the act of not drinking and driving as not only the right thing to do, but as something truly heroic too.”

As a global partner of F1 since 2016, Heineken has leveraged this partnership to amplify the simple yet crystal clear message of urging consumers to never drive when they have consumed any amount of alcohol. Ultimately, the bold message “When You Drive, Never Drink” is to be ingrained in the psyche of every consumer.

In Malaysia, there is a preference for driving as people generally rely on private transport to commute. This has contributed to the rise of drink driving incidents. On a bright note, the rise of e-hailing services has given people an option to leave their cars at home while they paint the town red.

“While official data shows that driving under the influence is the lowest cause of road fatalities in Malaysia, as a responsible brewer, we believe every accident is one accident too many,” asserts Renuka.

Consequently, Heineken has grabbed this opportunity to collaborate with e-hailing companies to provide discount codes as people travel to and from Heineken brand events. This encourages consumers to engage in a new habit, instead of drink driving. Consumers can utilise promo codes for discounts on Grab rides during the month of December.

Heineken aims to give away up to 10,000 promo codes worth RM100,000 for consumers attending Heineken Malaysia events during the year-end festive period, in the upcoming collaboration with Grab.

“Through this collaboration with Grab, we are also pushing out friendly reminders to our consumers to enjoy responsibly and appreciate the efforts of their Grab drivers, who are crucial in providing a safe ride home at the end of the event,” says Renuka.

Ingraining responsibility from within

In conjunction with the WYDND campaign, valued business partners, which include restaurants, coffee shops, bars, hotels, retailers as well as relevant trade associations, were invited to sign the Heineken Malaysia Responsible Consumption Industry Pledge. This was done to inspire Heineken’s business partners to join forces as part of a responsible and progressive industry in Malaysia.

Heineken received support from more than 100 of its business partners. Among the pledges were to educate and engage consumers to avoid the harmful use of alcohol including excessive drinking, drink driving, drinking while pregnant and underage drinking. Business partners also pledged to support consumers to make a responsible choice by promoting the use of alternative transport, in line with Heineken Malaysia’s WYDND campaign.

“We will continue engaging our business partners through regular updates from our sales team and through relevant communications with them from time to time. We also leverage our Star Academy’s training programme for frontline staff of our business partners to create greater awareness on responsible consumption and responsible service,” notes Renuka.

Heineken believes in practising what it preaches. As such, Heineken Malaysia employees are educated on responsible consumption guidelines and on ways to act as advocates for responsible consumption.

“We provided employees with e-learning courses on responsible consumption, entailing the importance of responsible consumption, the health effects of alcohol and ways to enjoy alcohol responsibly. Further, employees were briefed on our company’s alcohol policy, road rules and regulations, and the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol,” says Renuka.

As a responsible brewer, Heineken Malaysia believes that its products should be enjoyed sensibly while ingraining a responsible drinking culture to eradicate drunk driving.

“We encourage our consumers to enjoy responsibly and always use alternative transport when going out for a drink. Ultimately, we want our customers to go home safely at the end of the day. We also believe that our products should be enjoyed responsibly and in moderation, as part of a balanced lifestyle,” says Renuka.