Anheuser-Busch to Canvass C-stores for Global Be(er) Responsible Day

ST. LOUIS -- Anheuser-Busch is launching a campaign to encourage drinking adults to be or use a designated driver as part of Global Be(er) Responsible Day on Friday, Sept. 21. In the U.S., the brewer's employees will canvass retail locations and street corners, display yard signs and construct a human billboard to deliver a message from Budweiser: "Designate a Driver and Enjoy the Great Times."

Anheuser-Busch's sister companies around the world will also promote its responsible drinking program for the occasion, according to the announcement.

"Budweiser has a long history of promoting the use of designated drivers and, thanks to these efforts and those of many others, being or using a designated driver has become a routine part of our social lives," said Kathy Casso, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility for Anheuser-Busch. "Our alcohol responsibility efforts run year round, but Global Be(er) Responsible Day gives our employees and wholesalers an opportunity to unite, on a single day, to amplify one of our key responsible drinking messages."

As part of the initiative, employees and wholesalers are asking adults nationwide to pledge to drink responsibly at www.nationofresponsibledrinkers.com. At a special promotion in New York City on Sept. 21, those who take the pledge will have the opportunity to see their photo appear on the Nation of Responsible Drinkers map on the Budweiser video board in Times Square, the company said.

Several other events earlier this month led up to Global Be(er) Responsible Day. On Sept. 16, NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet unveiled a special paint scheme to promote the use of designated drivers during the GEICO 400 race in Chicago. On Sept. 19, Anheuser-Busch honorarily renamed Busch Place, directly in front of the entrance to Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis headquarters, to Designated Driver Way.

Additionally, from Sept. 19-21, Anheuser-Busch is welcoming the Traffic Injury Research Foundation's (TIRF) Working Group on DWI System Improvements, a consortium of experts on impaired driving from 15 leading criminal justice organizations, to its St. Louis headquarters. The group aims to strengthen the development and implementation of drunk driving initiatives by analyzing key performance measures crucial to identifying gaps and closing loopholes in the nation's DWI system, according to the announcement.

Finally, during the presidential debates in October, political leaders, members of the national press corps and other attendees will have the chance to take the pledge to express their support of alcohol responsibility.

"It takes just a moment to pledge to be or use a designated driver, but the positive effects of that decision can last a lifetime," said Casso. "Political views may differ, but keeping our communities safe and promoting responsible choices are ideas we can all get behind."

Over the past 30 years, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have committed more than $930 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to promote responsible drinking and prevent underage drinking and drunk driving, the company stated.