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Alcohol Awareness
The U.S. brewing industry has a long-standing commitment to helping to reduce all
forms of alcohol abuse, including illegal underage drinking, excessive college drinking,
and drunk driving.
Brewers, importers, and distributors have been leaders in sponsoring research, offering
server training, and providing public information about alcohol abuse and how to
help prevent it. We are concerned about problems caused by alcohol abuse and are
doing more to educate the public about responsible consumption. Consider this:
- Underage drinking: The brewing industry
offers server training, public service announcements, and programs to help retail
employees detect fake IDs.
- College drinking: The industry works
with colleges and communities to develop programs that encourage responsible and
legal alcohol consumption.
- Drunk driving: The industry sponsors
server training, designated driver and taxi programs, and public service announcements.
Beer Institute members Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, and Heineken are involved
in a range of consumer awareness activities designed to help fight drunk driving
and illegal underage drinking and to promote responsible consumption of beer by
adults:
- College programs: Brewers participate
in and support
BACCHUS (Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University
Students),
National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, the Buddy System, and other
educational programs designed to help teach young people about responsible and legal
alcohol consumption on America's college campuses.
-
Training and awareness programs: Working with retailers, brewers and distributors
sponsor and promote server training, designated driver programs, and taxi programs.
- Television, radio, and print advertising
PSAs: Through
Anheuser-Busch's "Responsibility Matters" campaign, Miller's "Live Responsibly" campaign,
and Coors'
"21 Means 21" campaign, the brewing industry spends millions of dollars each year
helping to prevent illegal underage access and overconsumption.
- "We ID" campaign: Since 1992, the
brewing industry has distributed over 1.5 million pocket-size laminated cards and
stickers-in English, Spanish, and Korean-to retail employees to help them detect
fake driver's licenses used for illegal beer purchases.
- Heineken USA's SAFECALL program is also a key component of Heineken
with a Heart, providing guests a safe alternate means of transportation home if
needed.
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Advertising code: The industry follows voluntary advertising guidelines to ensure
the highest standards in advertising and marketing.
While much remains to be done, recent studies indicate that progress is being made
in the fight against alcohol abuse. Virtually every indicator of alcohol abuse has
shown significant progress during the past 15 years:
- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
fatalities in crashes involving teen drunk drivers decreased 67 percent from 1982
to 2007.
- A 2008 Department of Health and Human Services National Household
Survey showed that 84 percent of adolescents (ages 12-17) do not drink.
- According to the American Freshman Survey, the percentage of college
freshmen that say they drink beer frequently or occasionally was 48 percent lower
in 2008 than in 1982 and 21 percent lower in 2008 than in 2000.
- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
fatalities in drunk driving crashes decreased 38 percent between 1982 and 2007,
despite the fact that the number of licensed drivers increased by 37 percent during
the same period.
For more-detailed information on efforts by members of the beer industry to fight
alcohol abuse, see the brochure,
Commitment to the Future: Community Service Initiatives.
Note: Downloading this brochure requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have
this, get your free copy
here.
In addition, the Beer Institute is a great resource for a list of significant alcohol abuse programs,
and Signs of
Progress for statistics on the decline in alcohol abuse.
Visit these sites for information on the efforts of the largest brewers:
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