Responsible drinking and e-sports combine in new campaign

For decades, China has been taking creative steps to tackle irresponsible drinking. Various measures rolled out include publicity campaigns with informative brochures, advertisements, organizing seminars and sending letters to certain groups. This has had a limited effect.

But a new campaign could see a change. On Tuesday the 2020 Smart Drinking Public Awareness Gala was held by international conglomerate Budweiser Brewing Co in Shanghai. The economic hub strives to become the "global e-sports capital".

Over recent years, e-sports, as one of younger generation's top-five cultural interests, has emerged into the limelight. With strong governmental support, the Chinese e-sports industry has been witnessing a continuous promulgation of policies and guidelines, all pushing this young sport toward mature development.

In the extraordinary year of 2020, the e-sports industry, thanks to its exclusive advantages as a digital sport, has demonstrated further vitality. Statistics show that in the first half of this year, the number of e-sports users in China kept growing to reach a stunning 484 million. Among them, 73 percent are aged under 35, while the proportion of users below 25 is also steadily climbing.

The shared aspiration has been passionately translated into the first-ever e-sports-themed public awareness film by the brewer. In this piece, celebrity Wang Ziyi assumes the leading role of a die-hard e-sports fan, who, under the influence of his dark alter ego, hesitates about driving home after drinking.

But after traveling into the virtual e-sports world, Wang fights against the dark side by practicing three stunts to fully eliminate the drink-driving temptation. The victorious moment comes as Hajiang, a high-popularity virtual idol as well as Shanghai's first virtual ambassador for road traffic safety awareness, arrives at his side as a designated driver, and the duo embody the core message for a zero drink-driving future.

"The more common the drink-driving issue becomes, the more attention we need to pay. I sincerely hope my fan group as well as China's vast number of young people can join this league of positive engagement," said Wang.

A special gift pack was launched during the event, conforming to the public awareness for better health in the post-COVID era.

With the problem of drink-driving offenders that are getting younger and younger, the campaign aims to talk with younger generation through their shared language of e-sports as an effective way of calling on their generation to help build a future of zero drink-driving.

Jan Craps, CEO and co-chair of Budweiser APAC, said this is the 13th year that the company has been celebrating the ever-ongoing "Smart Drinking, No Drink-Driving" campaign.

Responding to the booming new trend of e-sports and virtual consumption, he said it is also the first time that they had creatively infused its campaign with the e-sports phenomenon, hoping to better engage with younger generation through their shared interest, and he called on more people to join the meaningful cause.

It helps that e-sports and zero drink-driving share some fundamental principles: respecting the rules and mastering oneself－being quick but not impulsive, both strong-willed and responsible. By having the self-mastery to reject the impulse to risk drink-driving, one can be a true winner, not just at one's online game, but also in the game of life, he said.

The beer-maker believes that this positivity will be amplified through Wang's influencer-power, thus boosting the further dissemination of the "Smart Drinking, No Drink Driving" culture to a larger population.