Europe’s Brewers pledge increased action to combat alcohol misuse
Intensifying their support to authorities to fight alcohol misuse, Europe’s 3,500 brewers launched a Pledge at the European Parliament on Tuesday to increase consumer information, enforce responsible advertising and conduct new awareness campaigns reaching out to young adults, drivers, and pregnant women.
The European Beer Pledge, launched at an event hosted by the EP Beer Club and Parliament Magazine, is a package of voluntary initiatives that Europe’s brewers are taking, which empowers EU citizens and leverages the importance of new technologies such as social media to support the European Union and its Member States in their Strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm.
The European Commission’s Despina Spanou, Chair of the EU Forum on Alcohol and Health welcomed the Pledge and Europe’s brewers’ ongoing commitment to the EU strategy and the Forum. She said that of the 212 commitments to the Forum, over one third has been made by Europe’s brewers. “This is quite impressive and one has to acknowledge it,” she said.
Highlighting the role of voluntary approaches, Spanou added “Sometimes through voluntary approaches you can achieve a lot and faster than if you went the legislative route. Also because you have the capacity with multi-stakeholder approaches to adapt to national specificities”.
The Pledge’s implementation will be supported by beer companies and associations. Heineken’s Rutger Goethart said, “Digital media create an opportunity to engage with consumers on responsible beer consumption. We develop digital campaigns to address misuse. Our most recent example is our Sunrise campaign with the Heineken brand, which makes moderate beer consumption aspirational. This message is good for consumers, good for our brand and good for our business.”
The Pledge will be evaluated annually to allow for ongoing measurement of initiatives in line with best practices. Implementation activities may be submitted as actions under the EU’s alcohol-related harm strategy through commitments to the Alcohol and Health Forum. It is hoped that they will provide input to strategies against alcohol misuse at national, regional and global levels.
To highlight that the Pledge is about action, The Brewers of Europe submitted a commitment to the Forum today entitled ‘Self-regulating beer advertising across social media’. The commitment, which the Commission will make publically available shortly, will help to ensure responsible beer advertising on social media.
Already the brewers associations of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK have submitted their planned activities to support the Pledge’s implementation, through concrete, local activities in 2012.
