6 reasons to ban the Budweiser campaign

Budweiser and Conor Mc Gregor have put together a really impressive & creative campaign around “Dream Big”.

I really like the way he encourages people to dream big. It was filmed in Crumlin where I lived for a while and it was great to see Crumlin being seen in a positive light for a change. This Budweiser  campaign has been generating huge interest and is now also being targeted at women.

I was delighted however when RTE refused to screen it. Social media comment was very critical and there were accusations of “Nany state” “hysterical” and sure he is n’t even drinking in the ad.

Here are the reasons I believe the entire Budweiser campaign and all alcohol marketing should be banned.

1.Conor Mc Gregor is a role model for young people

Conor Mc Gregor is a role model to many young people and this ad is very appealing to them.  All the evidence shows the more exposure young people have to a brand the more likely they are to both start drinking and drink dangerously at a younger age. The younger you are when you start drinking the more likely you will have an alcohol misuse problem. Just seeing a brand name is enough, the drink itself does not have to be shown.  Click here  for the  evidence.

2.Young people are exposed to the Budweiser campaign

The Budweiser campaign is being heavily promoted on social media and young people are being exposed to the campaign even if they do not click through on the ads.

3.Linking success to Budweiser

Conor Mc Gregor’s success in achieving   his big dreams is now being linked to the Budweiser brand.  You too can achieve your big dreams if you drink  Budweiser and enter the competition. The irony is the more Budweiser (or any alcohol) you drink, the less your chances of achieving your big dreams.

4. Being Irish means drinking

One study of primary school children asked them what it means to be Irish. The vast majority of them replied drink was an essential part of being Irish. Yet in the 1960’s we drank just under 5 litres per person compared to the nearly 11 litres we drink now. Why is being Irish now associated with drinking?  We need to change this dangerous   belief and reducing children’s exposure to marketing will help.

5. Marketing works

All the evidence shows marketing works in encouraging more drinking.  If it did n’t do you really think big profit seeking multinationals would spend so much money on it?  There were more than 40 contacts made with government in just 3 months. The proposed alcohol public health bill which restricted marketing was watered down. Why was so much effort put into changing the proposed law, if alcohol marketing did not work?

6. People are more important than profits

The profits of multinationals are not more important than public health. 1,500 of our 11,000 hospital beds are occupied by people with an alcohol related illness. Remember this next time you’re waiting for days with a loved one in an emergency department for a hospital bed. If we reduce alcohol misuse by 25% we could solve the trolley bed problem.

We are subsiding the alcohol industry

In a future post I’ll look at the arguments of the alcohol industry as to why marketing should not be banned and why these arguments are incorrect.

A key thing to remember is we the tax payer are subsidising the alcohol industry. Alcohol related costs are higher than the taxes and employment they provide by approximately €1.6 billion every single year.

If you liked this post you may find the 7 myths of alcohol advertising interesting.

UPDATE 24th May

The ad has now been banned. See details here