Key Recent Milestones:
Vietnam: Global Actions launched drink drive capacity-building bus driver projects in December 2011 with events in Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa provinces. An education and enforcement campaign will run through January 2012.
Global Actions also held a workshop on December 26 with the Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA) to revise a draft of the marketing code for wine and spirits.
Global Actions Spotlight: China Self-Regulation Workshop
Also in December 2011, Global Actions marked new progress with a self-regulation workshop. In collaboration with the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association (CADIA), the China Association of National Advertisers (CANA), and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Asia, the Beijing workshop drew representatives from both international and domestic beverage alcohol producers.
ICAP sponsor companies AB InBev, Bacardi, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, and SABMiller participated, along with local companies including Tsingtao Beer Company, Beijing Hongxing Company, and China Shaoxin Yellow Wine Group Company. The workshop began with opening remarks from CADIA president Wang Yancai, followed by presentations from experts in self-regulation and alcohol policy.
Yancai discussed CADIA’s plans to implement a series of activities that would establish a fair marketing environment. “Irresponsible marketing not only disturbs the social economic disorder, but also damages the alcohol industry’s public image and interests,” he said. “CADIA is happy to collaborate with ICAP to implement a series of responsible marketing activities.”
ICAP’s Brett Bivans observed that the workshop presented “a good opportunity for industry members to share their experiences and explore what more they will do, both as individual companies and collectively as CADIA members. The self-regulation and CSR survey projects are both opportunities for industry members to show leadership and responsibility.”
CADIA vice president Guo Xiang introduced policies developed to encourage responsible marketing and fair competition, and North China University of Technology’s Li Minghe spoke about the international and domestic environment of self-regulation. Global Actions Country Coordinator James Yu outlined industry contributions to support Member States in implementation of the WHO Alcohol Strategy as well as the Guiding Principles: Self-Regulation of Marketing Communications for Beverage Alcohol adopted by ICAP sponsor companies.
“In the discussion session that followed presentations, valuable suggestions were brought up for the draft code and the CSR survey instruments,” said Yu. “Most participants expressed support for the responsible marketing activities.”
Moving forward, the working group plans to improve the self-regulation code and CSR survey instruments based on participant feedback. The CSR survey will be conducted in the next several months, with the results being released together with the self-regulation code in the second half of 2012.
What’s Happening Next:
· Vietnam: On January 8-11, Channel Research will travel to Hanoi and Da Nang City for site evaluation visits.
