Responsible beer consumption continued
Commercial communication
The strong belief that we must promote responsible consumption through our advertising and promotions forms an important element of our alcohol policy. Our commercial communications must never appear to condone irresponsible consumption.
We have had rules and guidelines for responsible commercial communication for almost forty years now. Since the late 1960s we have made it an important part of our company’s policy that our advertisements do not encourage alcohol misuse and that it only targets people above the legal drinking age.
Some public interest organisations advocate restrictions or total bans on the advertising of products that include alcohol. They argue that reducing advertising will reduce excessive consumption or other abuse. However, ample international research into social behaviour fails to support this argument.
Heineken believes that misuse of alcohol should be addressed via specific measures targeted at specific kinds of abuse. For example, drink-driving (a clear example of irresponsible consumption) is being addressed through awareness campaigns, by legislation and strict enforcement of regulations. The successful industry-promoted designated driver campaign called ‘BOB’, which originated in Belgium, has been introduced in over 10 countries across Europe with support from the brewing industry.
Over the past years we have improved understanding of, and compliance with, our Rules on Responsible Commercial Communication by running presentations for management teams and workshops for employees in our marketing and sales disciplines. The rules cover all Heineken owned brands marketed worldwide. In 2006, a broader spectrum of employees in our commercial discipline (representing around 90 percent of the operating companies) received an electronic learning tool as a refresher. More people participated in this exercise than in previous years, while the tool itself benefited from a content upgrade and technical improvements. During the year, our Manual on the Rules for Responsible Commercial Communication was also revised, providing greater clarity regarding the use of new media.
In 2007, we will make further improvements to the electronic learning tool and renew the content once again. The list of participating employees will also be updated to ensure more people benefit from an exercise that is widely recognised as informative and fun to do.
