Whisky Focus - Diageo Join The Pact Campaign Meets Target One Year Early

Diageo launched the #JoinThePact campaign in 2008 as part of its efforts to tackle drink driving around the world. Supported by Johnnie Walker’s sponsorship of Formula 1 partnerships, the campaign is fronted by former and current F1 drivers including Mika Häkkinen, Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso.

The target of 5 million pledges has been reached early thanks to a global effort to secure commitments, with the #JoinThePact campaign already activated in over forty countries across five continents.

From the heights of Nepal to the streets of Sao Paulo, the campaign has travelled the world, raising awareness among consumers and encouraging millions to make a commitment never to drink and drive.

The video above was filmed in Edinburgh in 2014 where Mika Häkkinen, former Formula 1 driver and Johnnie Walker Global Responsible Drinking Ambassador came together with Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen to help launch the campaign which run in Edinburgh and in cities across the globe.

Earlier this month #JoinThePact launched in India, with Mika Häkkinen driving The Caparo T1 - a two-seater supercar with Johnnie Walker responsible drinking branding - in the streets of Delhi, to raise awareness for the campaign and promote responsible drinking.

In Mexico, a #JoinThePact TV commercial was launched in October this year – the first time a branded responsible drinking advertisement has run on national television in the country. The Johnnie Walker film ‘Glass Car’, featuring Fernando Alonso, aired nationwide and throughout the Mexican Grand Prix.

Mika Häkkinen commented: "It’s truly incredible that we have reached our target over a year early. I have been working on this campaign from the very beginning and it’s fantastic to see how we have reached people around the world, and I believe as a result made our roads safer. This is not the end, this job continues and we push forward to collect more pledges to never drink and drive and take #JoinThePact to new parts of the world"

Carolyn Panzer Director of Alcohol in Society at Diageo commented: "Our ambitious new target of collecting 50 million pledges never to drink and drive through #JoinThePact shows our tireless determination to make progress on reducing drinking and driving. We believe that a single death caused by drinking and driving is one too many and each one can be prevented"

Diageo has a long history of working to reduce alcohol-related fatalities and crashes and supports numerous drink drive prevention programmes around the world. These range from supporting high visibility enforcement through random breath tests to funding safe rides and free public transportation, and supporting laws to establish maximum blood alcohol concentration levels in countries where none exist.

Now that Diageo has hit its goal for #JoinThePact a year early they have announced a tenfold increase in its next target - aiming to secure 50 million pledges by 2025.
 

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