The Votes Are In: Designated Drivers Win!

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Every four years Americans focus on presidential candidates and political issues of national importance.  During this election cycle, Anheuser-Busch employees are preparing to launch a non-partisan campaign gaining support from everyone along the political spectrum: encouraging adults to be or use a designated driver.

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As part of Global Be(er) Responsible Day on Sept. 21, Anheuser-Busch and its sister companies around the world will promote the company's responsible drinking programs.  In the U.S., Anheuser-Busch employees will canvass retail locations and street corners, display yard signs and even construct a human billboard – all delivering a message from Budweiser to "Designate a Driver and Enjoy the Great Times."

"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 this initiative, employees and wholesalers also will ask adults nationwide to show support by pledging to drink responsibly at www.nationofresponsibledrinkers.com.  At a special promotion on Sept. 21 in New York City, adults 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.

Leading up to Global Be(er) Responsible Day, on Sunday, Sept. 16, Kevin Harvick's #29 Budweiser Chevrolet will have a special paint scheme to promote the use of designated drivers during the GEICO 400 in Chicago. On Sept. 19, Anheuser-Busch will honorarily rename Busch Place – directly in front of the entrance to Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis headquarters – to Designated Driver Way.  

Also, Sept. 19-21, Anheuser-Busch will welcome to its St. Louis headquarters the Traffic Injury Research Foundation's (TIRF) Working Group on DWI System Improvements, which is a consortium of experts on impaired driving from 15 leading criminal justice organizations.  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.

In addition, during the presidential debates in October, political leaders, members of the national press corps and other attendees will be able to take the pledge to show 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." 

In the past three decades, 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.  Recent research from GfK Custom Research North America shows promising news in the area of designated driver use and awareness, including that 65 percent of American adults  −  or 141 million people 21 or older  −  have been a designated driver or have been driven home by one.

About Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch and its employees build on a legacy of corporate social responsibility by focusing on three key areas: promoting alcohol responsibility, preserving and protecting the environment and supporting local communities.  In the past three decades, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have committed more than $930 million in national advertising campaigns and community-based programs to encourage responsible drinking and prevent underage drinking and drunk driving.  Anheuser-Busch reduced total water use at its breweries by 34 percent in the last three years and the company has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years.  Since 1997, Anheuser-Busch and its Foundation have invested in local communities through donations of nearly $490 million to charitable organizations.  The company also has provided more than 71 million cans of drinking water to people impacted by natural and other disasters since 1988.  Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo.  For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch