Labatt Breweries of Canada wants to know all of the potentially disgusting, unpleasant and uncomfortable things its customers would rather do than drink and drive.
As part of its ongoing “Know When to Draw the Line” corporate social responsibility program, the brewer has launched a new anti-drinking and driving campaign built around a dedicated Facebook page.
Developed by Toronto’s Agency59, the “Take the Pledge” campaign invites people to visit Facebook.com/labattdrawtheline or the French-language version Facebook.com/LabattTracezLaLigne and publicly state what they’d rather do than drink and drive.
The page features a pull-down menu offering almost 30 choices that range from riding a bicycle with no seat to doing taxes, and also invites more creative participants to come up with their own pledge.
Several celebrities have also taken the pledge, including auto racer Paul Tracy (who would rather ride his tricycle around Trois Rivieres), figure skater Elizabeth Manley (who would rather skate another four minute program at the Olympics) and General Rick Hillier (who would rather cut the lawn with scissors).
For every pledge it receives, Labatt is donating $1 to the charity True Patriot Love, which supports Canadian military personnel and their families.
The campaign is aimed primarily at 19-25 year-olds, an audience that Agency59’s chief creative officer Brian Howlett said is comfortable publicly expressing its opinions and beliefs via social media channels such as Facebook.
“Thanks to Facebook, people are really comfortable telling the world what they believe in, whereas 10 years ago the idea of a 21-year-old standing up and telling the world they refuse to drink and drive may not have had as much traction,” he said.
The Facebook initiative is being supported by what Howlett described as “the sleeping beauty” campaign, consisting of a series of transit and billboards ads depicting people sleeping in extremely uncomfortable places – such as in a tree, on a park slide or even on a statue – in order to avoid drinking and driving. Each execution features the scrawled message “I refuse to drink n drive.” The ads will run in major markets through December.
Banner ads will also appear on youth-friendly portals and sites including FunnyOrDie.com, TheOnion.com, TheHockeyNews.com and MSN.ca.
